Pink and Gold: The Ultimate Duo
by okmangeez
Summary: When the Ten Tail's Tailed Beast Ball struck the Allied Forces, Naruto and Sakura braced for the worst as Naruto used a Forbidden Jutsu in a desperate gamble to change the future. When they opened their eyes, the two of them found themselves waking up on the day that they were assigned to Team Seven...
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything Naruto related.**

* * *

Sakura continued to heal Naruto as best as she could, but she knew that there was no way that Naruto would have enough energy to block the next attack.

She watched in sickening fascination as the Ten Tail made an even larger Tailed Beast Ball, the ball covering the sky above them as the ninjas of the Allied Shinobi Forces were scrambling around to carry out Shikamaru's final plan. Sakura had to admit that the plan was quite ingenious, fighting the quality of the Tailed Beast Ball with quantity by creating thousands of Doton Wall Barriers in order to slow down the blast. However, she doubted that the plan would do any good against the destructive ball of power.

Beneath her hand, Naruto turned towards the medic-nin and smiled. "Hey Sakura?"

"Yes Naruto?"

The blond idiot gave her his signature idiotic grin, "Thanks for being my friend and teammate through everything. You're the best, Sakura."

She held back the tears in her eyes as she smacked the back of Naruto's head and smiled. " _Baka_ , we're gonna get through this. Don't make it sound like we're about to die."

Even as she said those words, Sakura knew that they were doomed. However, Outer Sakura's expression didn't change and she refused to give up the last bit of hope she had. She firmly believed that _someone_ or _something_ would save them or help them escape.

There was something mysterious in Naruto's sapphire eyes as he looked straight at Sakura. "I know. I just want to tell you how much I appreciate you."

Despite the situation, Sakura had to let out a small laugh. "This is very sudden Naruto, what is it? I can definitely tell that you're hiding something."

"Trust me Sakura, it's nothing."

* * *

 **"Nothing." You forgot to tell her that you're about to do a powerful, forbidden jutsu that can potentially be fatal when used.** The Nine Tail Fox scoffed at his partner. **Kit, are you sure you want to use this jutsu? If we pushed ourselves enough, we could probably help Gyuki deflect the next shot...**

"You and I both know that the Ten Tails can just create another Tailed Beast Bomb to destroy us all. And if it unleashes its Tenpenchii technique again, we won't be able to stop it. We've used up too much chakra and you know that too Kurama." Naruto simply replied. He was sitting and studying the scroll that the Nine Tails had given him that contained the forbidden technique. "If we manage to pull of this jutsu, we'll be able to save thousands of lives and we can stop this from ever happening."

 **...I can't say that you're lying kit. But are you ready to take the risks and go back into the past? Are you prepared to be isolated and hated once again by your entire village?** Kurama asked the boy.

Naruto let out a snort. "If I can save the Hidden Leaf from destruction and prevent this entire war from even happening, I'll gladly go through a _decade_ of suffering by myself. Maybe this time around, we can have peace across the world without death and destruction. As for the risks... We're about to die anyways."

 **An idealist like always Kit. But your selfless ways is what convinced me to work with you anyways.**

Naruto folded the scroll and tossed it back to the fox, the scroll disappearing as it flew through the air. "I think I got the gist of it. _Forbidden Jutsu: Time Manipulation._ "

The fox nodded. **After this, you will not be able to use that jutsu again. You have only one shot to change the past. I'll also remind you again that though your memories and spiritual energy will be transported back, your physical body and chakra system will still be out of shape and young. You won't be able to use the Rasengan or any of your very powerful jutsu right away, but it will be easier for you to re-learn them.**

After hearing this, Naruto groaned. "Great, so I'll have to basically train harder than ever. At least now I know how to use the Shadow Clones to boost my training."

The jinchuuriki stood up and stuck out his fist to the fox. "With you and I as a team, we'll definitely be able to take on the ninja world! Believe it!"

A small chuckle came out of the fox's mouth as he gave a smirk to his comrade and prison guard. **Of course Kit. I'll help you every step of the way. But before we actually carry out the jutsu, I'll like to tell you something about the jutsu.**

Naruto titled his head. "Like what?"

 **You can bring back one person with you on this journey. The person that comes back with you will also return to their younger bodies at exactly the same time you do. Do you want to bring someone with you back to the past? I'm sure that your pink haired friend would be...**

"No, Kurama." Naruto abruptly said. "I don't want anyone else to be burdened by this."

 **But Kit, if she came with you, she could help you on your journey. Besides, you're the one that said that your comrades have made you stronger.**

"I'll just help her and Sasuke grow faster. I don't want her or anyone else going back into the past knowing that if they failed, the world would end. That is a burden for me and me alone."

 **Selfless. Maybe a little too selfless.** The fox grimaced. **Alright Kit. Let's do this.**

* * *

Sakura was surprised when she saw Naruto weaving his hand to make hand seals. "Naruto, your chakra is exhausted and your body is physically weak! You're in no shape to use another jutsu!"

"Don't worry Sakura." Naruto gave her a small, weak smile. A smile of regret. "This jutsu will be the final jutsu I use."

"What the hell are you saying _baka_?" Sakura said. Already, she was preparing to hold him down so he wouldn't do anything stupid.

He stared at her before he looked down to focus on his work. "It's a secret jutsu that'll set everything right."

She was tempted to stop him as he continued, but couldn't find herself the will to stop him. Something in his voice told her that he wasn't going to do anything stupid, which was a surprise since he always did something stupid.

There was a moment of silence between them as Naruto continued to make the hand seals and Sakura continued to heal him with the remainder of her chakra. However, that moment was shattered as Sakura looked up and saw that the Tailed Beast Ball was released towards them.

Sakura prayed in the back of her mind that the _kami_ would spare her and her friends, but her prayers went unanswered as the ball came closer and closer to them. Thousands of walls were erected to slow down the ball, but Sakura could see that the walls were being shattered faster than they were being made. She reached out to her teammate and friend and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Sakura-chan. I need you to back up for a moment. I need to do something." Naruto muttered. Nodding, Sakura stepped back away from her teammate.

It was at this moment that Naruto completed his hand seals and slammed his fist into the ground. " _Forbidden Jutsu: Time Manipulation."_

The spot where Naruto had smashed his fist into began to crack and lines began to shoot out from the crack. The lines surrounded Naruto and Sakura, forming a star shape around the two ninjas. The wind began to whirl and make shrieking noises as the lines began to glow.

"Time Manipulation? Is this some sort of time travel jutsu?" Sakura shouted over the powerful winds. The other ninjas were too distracted on building Doton Wall Barriers to notice that Naruto was doing something strange.

Naruto gave his trademark thumbs up to his teammate. "Yep! Don't worry about me Sakura! I'll change the future for the better! I'll make sure that everyone is safe and that this never happens!"

If she could've punched the blonde, she would've. But the winds were slowly pushing her away from him. " _BAKA. IDIOT._ If you're going to go to the past, at least take me with you!"

"I can't let you Sakura. I can't let you carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. This is something I need to carry by myself. And if I go into the past, you won't even remember this anyways!"

Sakura couldn't believe what she had just heard and hoped that she heard him wrong due to the winds. Looking at his facial expression told the entire story, but even then she couldn't allow this to happen. _We're a team. Even if Naruto doesn't want me to go, I'm going with him. Besides, who else would look after that idiot?_

Using the last of her strength, she pushed against the wind and walked towards her teammate. In front of her, she could see the Tailed Beast Ball coming closer and closer as the Bee was unable to deflect the Ball away from the Allied Forces. Gritting her teeth, she hurled herself towards Naruto and grabbed him by the shoulder at the last second.

The entire world was suddenly lit up by the Tailed Beast Ball and the two teammates closed their eyes from the flash.

When they opened their eyes, they weren't dead, but in a different place.

* * *

Naruto Uzamaki woke up to the sun glaring down onto his face. Immediately, he sat straight up and looked out his window. Instead of a Konoha being reconstructed, the Konoha in front of him was completely intact. At the sight of this, Naruto opened his window and let out a loud yell of joy, prompting some neighbors and civilians on the streets to glare at him. To double check, Naruto ran to his closet and checked his physical appearance on the mirror. He was at least half a foot shorter and looked physically weaker than before.

"Looks like we've succeeded Kurama." Naruto said to the fox. "We're back in the past."

 **You'll need to figure out just what time period you're in currently. For all you know, Sasuke could've already left and you're about to leave on your training trip with that old pervert.**

A small smile crept onto Naruto's face. _Ero-Sannin. He's still alive! And this time, he'll stay alive._

"I don't know for sure, but I guess I'll head down to the Academy first and go on from there."

He opened his refrigerator in order to eat some breakfast and was met with the a rotten smell. Pinching his nose, he pulled out the only thing in the refrigerator other than some bread. "Sour milk. Why does this seem so familiar?"

Naruto slammed his fist into his palm in realization. "Right! The day that I became part of Team Seven! I had that stupid expired milk and bread for breakfast since that was all that was left in the refrigerator!"

 **Funny how you managed to figure out what day is today just by that. You could've just looked at the calender and checked the date.** Kurama mused.

"Thanks for telling me now Kurama." Naruto grumbled.

Shaking his head, Naruto threw out the milk and chewed on some of the bread. "I really need to shop for better food to fill up my refrigerator. Last thing I want is diarrhea again."

* * *

"Sakura! Wake up and eat your breakfast! You're gonna be late on your first day!"

Sakura Haruno rubbed her eyes and yawned. She looked around and froze once realized that she was in her room, in her own bed.

Which should've been impossible because her house and her room were blown up when Pein attacked the Hidden Leaf Village... Unless...

"I'm back in the past." Sakura said to herself. "So the idiot did send us back into the past."

 _Or at least, tried to send himself into the past. I grabbed him hoping that I would be sent back also..._

She recalled the last few moments before the blinding light and clenched her fist. "That idiot! Trying to come back into the past by himself and doing everything himself... I'm going to punch that _baka_ the next time I see him."

After throwing off her covers and jumping off the bed, she walked into the bathroom to wash up. In doing so, she came face to face with a much younger version of herself in the mirror. _Yep, definitely in the past._

Sakura washed up quickly and made her way downstairs, nearly running into her mother in the kitchen.

"Sakura! I know you're excited for your first day as a ninja, but you should be careful a bit!" Mebuki Haruno scolded her daughter. "You almost made me drop the miso soup!"

"Sorry mom." The young Sakura sheepishly replied. "But first day as a ninja?"

Mebuki rolled her eyes at her daughter. "Your first day as a Genin! You were all excited about it yesterday, telling me how you passed that entrance exam. You were also gushing on and on about that Uchiha boy and how you're confident you'll be teamed with him and win him over!"

Hearing those words made Sakura turn tomato red. _God my younger self was such a fan girl._ "Do you know when I have to get to the academy by?"

Her mother glanced at the clock. "Around 15 minutes?"

Sakura rushed to the dining table and shoveled food in to her mouth with only one thought running through her head.

 _That idiot is going to have a hole in his head after I'm done with him._

* * *

Not knowing that Sakura was also in the past with him, Naruto walked into the classroom carefree and lighthearted. After finding out that he woke up a little early, Naruto decided to change up his uniform a bit to look less colorful. His new outfit consisted of a black jacket with some orange on the sleeves with black shorts, similar to what Sasuke had worn during the Chunin exams. He also had the Uzumaki symbol on the back of his jacket. He earned a few odd stares due to his new clothes, but Naruto didn't mind as he strolled down the aisle to take a seat.

He took a seat right next to Sasuke, grinning at the raven haired boy. The last Uchiha only stared at him strangely and turned away to look outside the window as usual.

Naruto silently thought into his mind. _Look! He's_ _a kid now._

 **You're also 12, so you're also a "kid."** Kurama snorted in Naruto's mind.

 _Right, but I have the memories and experience of a 17 year old._ Naruto shot back. _Now I need to think of a way to prevent him from leaving the village and getting the "avenger" mode out of his head..._

"Naruto!"

The blond ninja turned towards the voice to see his favorite, and only, pink haired ninja. Though he was full aware that she didn't think too highly of him until after the Land of Waves mission. "Oh hey Sakura-chan! I'll move aside since you probably want to sit next to Sasu..."

His words were cut short as the pink haired girl punched him squarely in the face. "SHANNARO!"

All the other Genins watched in awe as a yellow and black blur shot out of the classroom, broke through the window, and landed at the front of the Academy's entrance. Sakura still had steam rising from her hands as she stared at her handiwork. _Ok, maybe I went a little too overboard._

She looked around and when she realized that everyone was staring at her, she took a seat next to Sasuke and kept her head down. Though, she managed to make eye contact with the young Uchiha. Sasuke stared at Sakura as he picked the pieces of glass out of his hair and clothes. However, his usual gaze of annoyance to the fan girl was replaced with a slight hint of approval.

Sakura thought that she would feel glad and relieved at seeing him again. However that was all she felt. She didn't feel any love or affection towards her future to be teammate. Only a tinge of regret and sadness. _I'll make sure to work with Naruto to prevent him from leaving, but it makes me wonder why I fangirled over this silent and rude idiot for so long._

Her train of thought was interrupted as Naruto limped back into class, several bruises and scratches on his legs and face. He sighed as he shifted his feet towards the back table and sat down. _Wait, I'm pretty sure she didn't punch me **that** hard on the day we got assigned to our Genin squads. _

**Maybe you did something differently that caused this. Maybe you were sitting a little too close for Sakura's comfort and she decided to use brute force to make you go away.** Kurama suggested.

Naruto nodded in agreement, but he still felt as if something was off. And he realized something was definitely off when Sakura stood up from her seat and slid into the seat next to his.

This _definitely_ didn't happen before. "Uh, Sakura-chan. Are you ok? Are you feeling sick or something?"

It was then that Naruto realized that his future teammate had cut her hair to shoulder length and wore pants instead of her usual Genin dress. _What is happening Kurama? Did coming back in time cause this much change already?_

 **Possibly Kit. Though, I think the reason that your pink haired friend is acting like this is because...**

"You can drop the act now, Naruto. I remember the Forbidden Jutsu and I can't believe that you almost ditched me!" Sakura whispered under her breath. "Thank _kami_ that I grabbed your shoulder in time. Otherwise, I might've been left behind in the future with you coming back to the past by yourself!"

Naruto gulped. That explained the sudden punch out of nowhere. "Why did you come back with me, Sakura?"

"To help you _baka._ We're teammates, remember? Team Seven till the end?" Sakura rolled her eyes. "Did you really expect me to stay put while you went back into the past by yourself? Someone needs to look after you and clean up your mess."

"Sorry Sakura..." Naruto mumbled. "I just thought that it would've been better if I dealt this by myself."

"Just... Forget about it. Let's just focus on the present. Or past." Sakura replied. "This time travel thing is really confusing..."

"If Naruto and Sakura can _stay silent_ , I will assign all of you to your jounin instructors." Iruke-sensei shouted in front of the class. This caused a lot of snickering and curious looks toward the two clearly embarrassed students. "Good, now I will read out the team numbers, the three Genin in the team, and the team's jounin."

The sensei began to read the list, announcing all the new teams. Naruto and Sakura already knew the team they would be in, but sat silently and calmly in the back as their names were called.

"Ok... Our next team is Team 7."

"Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto , and Uchiha Sasuke."

This time around, both Naruto and Sakura didn't cheer as the names were called. Instead the duo stayed silent as the rest of the names were called.

They were already silently scheming in their heads and barely realized that class had been dismissed for the day. Before the two left, Naruto turned to his "new" teammate.

"Hey Sakura, I also realized something... Now that we're back in the past, your chest is even smaller than before!"

In Naruto's head, Kurama face palmed and knew what to expect.

A visible tick mark appeared on Sakura's forehead. "SHANNARO!"

* * *

 **AN:** Welcome to my Naruto Fanfic! Originally, I wasn't going to write one, but I decided that it was worth a shot. I can't say that I'm the best writer, but I'll try to do my best on this one.

And if you haven't already noticed, this is a Time Travel piece where Naruto and Sakura are both sent back to their Genin years... The events before the Time Travel happened is canon and many canon characters will (hopefully) appear in the story. It is also a NaruSaku story, so if you're not a big fan of that ship, don't be dismayed and keep on reading! After all, maybe you'll like the story even if you don't like the pairing.

Till next time.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything Naruto related.**

* * *

 **AN:** Wow! I didn't know this story would gain so much attraction almost immediately! Originally, I was going to take years to write this story, but the reviews and favs/followers have motivated me to write some more! I will continue with the story, but I can't promise a daily update due to college and the such. I'll try my absolute best though to update at least once every week or two.

 **tiffanycr:** I thought your suggestion about Naruto mentioning Sakura's breasts was quite hilarious and I managed to weave it into the revised first chapter.

 **Yojimbra:** I also love NaruSaku. Honestly, I thought it was a lot more sensible and less forced than the original NaruHina shipping. And since the two now have something greater in common, they'll definitely come closer to each other. Thank you for your encouragement!

 **Mexcore:** Hmm. Maybe this could be brought up in the future. Thanks for the suggestion!

 **Cao510:** Thanks. There will definitely be changes with Gaara and the others. Who knows? Maybe Gaara will be able to control his One Tails like Naruto controls his nine Tails.

 **edboy4926:** The Rasengan is quite difficult to learn, though probably not impossible with practice and determination. However, I don't think Sakura will be able to learn the Rasengan or use it effectively in battle, since it requires a lot of chakra to make and use.

 **Suzululu4moe:** "Shannaro!" Poor Kakashi, it seems like his favorite student will now be the last place student on the team (ironically enough).

 **thedarkpokemaster:** Maybe he'll still run off, maybe he won't. Who knows? And yes, Naruto is quite dense and stupid in regards to girls.

 **SaiyanWarrior200:** I play this story to be quite different and I really haven't seen a time travel fan fic where only Naruto and Sakura are sent back to the past. So this should be pretty interesting. I'll keep you all entertained, I promise :)

And now... Onwards to the story!

* * *

"Ok this is getting really old now. I'm used to him being late, but I forgot that he was _extra_ late on the day that we met." Naruto mumbled silently to Sakura so that Sasuke couldn't hear. His friend nodded in agreement. Kakashi had slightly fixed his habit and was "only" an hour or two late to everything in the future, but now the white haired jounin was running a solid 3 hours late to the first team meeting.

Everything was a lot more different than before, mainly because Sakura from the future was also by his side. The last day passed by uneventfully, with Naruto and Sakura grabbing ramen together and thinking of ways to prevent the calamities of the future while not changing everything too much so their knowledge of the future wouldn't be useless. Naruto wanted to head out immediately and battle future Akatsuki members, only to be immediately smacked by Sakura for his brashness. Sakura also wanted to change things, but knew that any rash attempts to change history could have large consequences, such as killing Gato or assassinating Kisame. Besides, she reasoned with the blonde, their powers were nowhere near their peak levels. For now, all they could do was to train and make small, positive changes.

Naruto looked at the clock on the wall and sighed. "Well, since our sensei is late, I'll just go set up a prank for him."

The third member of Team Seven, Sasuke Uchiha, only gave out a small "Hn" as the blond ninja stood up and gathered up some supplies within the classroom. Sakura eagerly joined him, as she didn't join Naruto the last time he did this prank due to Sasuke's disapproving glare. She only gave a small glance at the Uchiha and snorted. _Who cares what he thinks? I'm not an obsessed fan girl anymore._

Instead of a simple blackboard eraser dropping from the sliding door, Naruto and Sakura constructed a very complicated prank that consisted of several different stages. Once the two agreed on the plan, they set out to work, with Naruto sending several clones to collect some supplies needed for the operation.

Unknowingly to the duo, Sasuke watched the two work with great interest, as he found the two working together so casually to be quite... odd.

 _Just up until yesterday, Sakura was fawning over me and stalking me while she pounded Naruto and called him useless. Now, it seems like they're suddenly best friends._ Sasuke thought as he saw Naruto grab a wooden mallet from his clone. The Uchiha let out a "Hn" as he continued to watch his teammates. _Maybe if this continues, Sakura won't bother me anymore and dobe will stay out of my way. After all, they're just people standing in the way of my final goal._

"Finished!" Naruto let out a whoop. "Now that dumb jounin sensei will be punished for being late!"

Sakura let out a small laugh and gave Naruto a high five. Sasuke merely sat still with his hands still crossed in front of him. "Even with the new additions to the prank, there's no way a jounin would fall for a stupid booby trap like _that._ "

Naruto gave the raven haired boy a grin. "Wanna make a bet, Sasuke-teme? I bet you a bowl of ramen that our sensei will walk right into our booby trap!"

The Uchiha prodigy only glared at him, his body posture remaining completely the same.

Within minutes, the doors of the classroom slid open to reveal the silver haired jounin of Team Seven. Kakashi had already seen the blackboard eraser, but decided to walked into it to give his little pupils a little satisfaction before he worked them to the bone. He opened the door and was immediately hit by the blackboard eraser, which was filled with ink instead of chalk powder. Blinded by the ink dripping into his right eye, he stepped backwards, only to be struck by a large wooden mallet to the back of his head. As he stumbled forward, he tripped on a tripe wire set up right in front of the door and fell right into a small pit of flour while a bucket of water slammed into his head at the same time. Realizing that this was not a simple blackboard eraser prank, Kakashi slowly rose up with the bucket still on his head, only to have someone slam two cymbals that vibrated the bucket and caused a ringing sensation to echo throughout his head.

After several minutes of a violent headache, Kakashi calmly took off the bucket on his head and looked at his uniform. His usually clean uniform was now stained with ink and covered in wet flour. His hair was a mess and his mask felt very uncomfortable with all the flour and ink inside.

The leader of Team Seven coughed and looked at the three Genin assigned to his team. He knew that Naruto would possibly pull a prank, but a prank on this scale was something he didn't anticipate. And looking closely at the pink haired girl, he could also see that she helped him with the prank due to some flour marks on her hand. Only the Uchiha looked and seemed innocent and even he was staring at his instructor with a look of amusement.

"How can I say this?" Kakashi said as he dusted himself off and rubbed his chin. "My first impression is... I don't like you guys. You guys are bullies."

Only Sasuke looked slightly troubled and annoyed. Naruto and Sakura were both grinning. _Yep, the two idiots that set this prank_. Kakashi thought.

"Now meet up on the roof. We're gonna do introductions." "Kakashi" disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. If I'm right, then Kakashi should be feeling the burn about... now." Naruto said with a smile still on his face. Right on time, there was a small yelp above them. "Come on! I don't think the sensei will be in a good mood, so we should hurry."

Up on the roof, Kakashi was already rubbing his head, thankful that he had sent a clone down instead of meeting the Genin himself. _I'm in for a rough time ahead..._

* * *

"Well then!" Kakashi said cheerfully, though there was a hint of danger in his voice. "Let's begin with introducing ourselves to each other!"

Naruto raised his hand. "What do you want us to say?"

"Excellent question. I just want to know some of the basics. Your likes, your dislikes, your dreams for the future and stuff like that." Kakashi answered.

The blond haired teen nodded. "Then you go ahead first sensei. You're the leader."

Kakashi tilted his head for a moment. "Oh... Me? I'm Hatake Kakashi... I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes, though I do dislike brats that bully their sensei on the first day." His words were pointed directly at Sakura and Naruto. "Dreams for the future? Hmm... As for hobbies, I have lots of hobbies..."

Even though Naruto and Sakura knew exactly what Kakashi would say, they still shook their head as Sasuke joined in on the display of disappointment with a scowl. "So basically, all we know about him is his name..."

"Now it's your turn, let's start from the right. Blonde, go first." Kakashi waved his hand for them to start.

Naruto adjusted his _hitai-ate_ and spoke. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto! What I like is eating ramen, training, and eating ramen! What I dislike is... um... someone who turns their back on their friends and betrays their comrades. My hobbies are training, eating ramen, and learning new jutsu! My dream is to become the greatest Hokage and bring peace to the entire world!

 _That sounds fairly normal... Except his dislikes sound odd... Bringing peace to the world, he's already dreaming big._ "Alright, next."

"My name is... Uchiha Sasuke. There are lots of things I dislike and I really don't like anything. And... I can't really call it a dream... But I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan and... to kill a certain man." The raven haired boy answered solemnly.

 _Itachi. Maybe this time around, we can save him_. "That's it?" Naruto asked his "rival."

For the first time in a long time, Sasuke blinked in surprise. "What do you mean, _dobe_?"

"Your entire life is just going after one guy and killing him? That "resurrecting my clan" thing sounded pretty cool, but your only other goal is to kill someone? Geez, and what's gonna happen after you kill him?"

Sasuke actually looked like he was considering what Naruto said as Kakashi raised his hand and silenced them. "Naruto, your introduction was only slightly better, but stay silent and wait for everyone to finish. Now, let's wrap this up with the girl."

"My name is Hanuro Sakura. I like a lot of things, but I mainly like to study medical ninjutsu, hang out with friends, and read. I dislike double crossing traitors that turn their backs on their friends and close ones. I also dislike rude people who disregard others as inferior. My hobbies are studying and training to constantly improve myself. My dream is to one day surpass Tsunade the Sannin as a medic and help build an alliance in which ninjas of all villages can live in peace together!"

 _Huh... She doesn't sound like the fan girl that people make her out to be. In fact, if anything, she sounds almost like Naruto in a lot of aspects..._ Kakashi thought in his head. _Though, I'm not sure if that's a bad thing. If she actually has goals and dreams instead of being motivated solely by the Uchiha boy, it'll help her improve early on..._

"Alright. That's it for the introductions. Tomorrow, we'll officially start our duties as shinobi of the Hidden Leaf." Kakashi announced to his Genin squad. "But before we do anything, we'll be doing something with just the four of us. You can call it a survival training. This won't be a normal training. During this training, I will be your opponent."

Seeing that the three Genin were impassive, Kakashi chuckled a bit to himself. "You three look awfully calm even after I told you that you will be facing me during this training. I hope you guys don't freak out when I tell you this, but of the 27 graduates, only 9 will be chosen to become Genin. Everyone else will be sent back to the academy. So basically, your chance of failure stands at a solid 66% as of now."

Even after he said this, he received no response from his students. His eyes wandered to Naruto, who looked very relaxed and gave only a slight glance towards Sasuke, then towards Sakura, who was punching the ground softly, causing small fissures to appear, and lastly towards Sasuke, who was still in his own world of thinking and was sitting with his hands crossed with indifference all over his face.

"So I guess you guys aren't freaking out. I'll have to admit that you're the first team to not freak out after hearing that. Anyways, tomorrow you have to show your real skills on the training ground. Bring all the shinobi tools you have. Make sure to skip breakfast too, you might throw up from the training you'll get tomorrow." Kakashi told the group. "I was gonna give you a small brochure to give you a small hint of what's to come tomorrow, but since you set that _really mean_ prank on me, I'll just let you three freak out till tomorrow. Till then"

And with a small wave of a hand, he disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

"Yo Sasuke, wanna grab lunch together and train for tomorrow's survival training? Sakura is coming along too!" Naruto asked the Uchiha with his trademark stupid grin.

A simple frown and a "Hn" answered the question as Sasuke walked away from the two without even waving good bye. Naruto scrunched up his face and shook his head. "He still has a stick up his ass, the bastard."

Sakura gave her teammate a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "He'll come around in the future. After all, he hasn't been corrupted by Orochimaru and he's still redeemable. We just need to figure out a way to break his avenger mode and convince him that it'll be worthwhile to stay in Konoha with us."

"You're just being soft on him because you love him." Naruto grumbled. "At least our goal of keeping Sasuke in Konoha is easier because he's still here in the village as a shinobi instead of being a missing-nin."

 _Do I really still love him?_ Sakura wondered to herself. _It's good seeing him again but... The last few encounters with him weren't exactly pleasant. Besides, even after all those years of chasing him, he showed no signs of returning my feelings or even a hint of returning to Konoha again._ "I think the best way to keep Sasuke in the village is to become powerful ourselves. If we stay constantly ahead of him and show that we have something to offer and teach him, he won't see as obstacles to his goal and maybe see us as partners. Maybe if we told him the truth about the Uchiha Massacre, it'll turn off his avenger mode and allow him to develop a better goal for himself. Obsession over revenge isn't really healthy for anyone."

Naruto hesitantly nodded. "I think we should tell _jiji_ about everything soon. Maybe after we re-learn some of our stronger jutsu and after we do the Wave Mission. It's only after the Wave Mission that we earn Sasuke's respect and friendship, and he'll be more willing to hear us out after that."

"Not a bad idea for the Dead Last." Sakura answered with a grin. "Let's grab lunch somewhere _other_ than Ichiraku's Ramen and test out our current strengths. We need to prepare ourselves for tomorrow's test. I really want to flatten Kakashi-sensei's face and be part of the first Genin team to take a bell from him."

The duo laughed as they walked away, not noticing a familiar figure reading an orange book on the side of the academy building.

* * *

After eating at a small sandwich shop near the outskirts of town (partially due to Naruto's request on avoiding the more populated areas), Sakura and Naruto made their way to the Third Training Ground, where the "survival training" would be carried out the next day. While Naruto was focusing on re-mastering the Rasengan, Sakura was doing physical and chakra control exercises.

"Agh! This is so frustrating." Naruto shrieked as the 29th attempt of a Rasengan dissipated in his hand. "I definitely remember how to do it and can almost feel the jutsu on the tip of my fingers, but I just can't do it!"

"It took you a week to complete the Rasengan last time, didn't it? You should be able to finish it faster this time around since you already know the stuff you need to do to make the Rasengan." Sakura was standing upside down from a tree branch while she practiced her chakra control.

Naruto punched a tree, only to find that he wasn't as strong as he was before. He let out a small yelp as his fist began to turn red while the tree trunk was completely intact. "I hate this stupid, weak body. I really need to train extra hard, but the bell test is tomorrow!"

Sakura pouted. "You do know that there are other ways of fighting Kakashi, right? Do you remember how we beat him last time?"

Naruto thought for a second and smiled. "Right... I pretended to know the ending of the _Icha Icha Tactics_ and forced him to cover his eyes and ears. Do you think it'll actually work this time around?"

"I mean, why not? He won't expect it this time around because we haven't actually done it yet. Besides, we need every edge we get since we don't have our full strengths. I think I should be able to enhance my strength using chakra control, but that's about it. Maybe if we had more time..." Sakura told the blonde.

The son of the Fourth Hokage only grinned. "It's fine. It's not like we need to beat Kakashi or get the bells. We just need to have a plan and show teamwork in order to pass. And I think I have a plan that should have Kakashi running for his money."

"You? With a plan? The world must be ending or this must be a genjutsu!" Sakura looked at Naruto incredulously.

"Ha ha. Hilarious." Naruto replied dryly. "The plan should work if I manage to master some lower rank justsu and have Sasuke follow along with the plan."

Pulling her close, Naruto began to whisper the plan into her ear, with the pink haired girl nodding with an approving look. "Not bad Naruto. I think that plan could actually work _if_ everything went well."

"Well that's why we're training Sakura-chan!" Naruto replied with a smile. "We need to be prepared for tomorrow!"

The two continued to train, with the rest of the training being uneventful. Though, towards the end of the practice, a boy with jet black hair watched carefully as the duo train intensely...

* * *

"I feel so drained..." Naruto complained as he walked down the marketplace with Sakura by his side. "I haven't used up this much chakra since... Well, the fight against Ten Tails."

After training, Naruto mentioned that he needed to go to the marketplace to stock up on some food after encountering an empty refrigerator the day before. Not wanting the blonde to only stock up on ramen, Sakura insisted on going to the marketplace with him so he could buy some healthy and nutritious food ("Ramen is nutritious! I mean, I was like pretty much everyone else's height even after eating ramen daily!" Naruto whined, only to be punched by Sakura).

In order to not draw attention himself or Sakura, Naruto used the _Henge no Jutsu_ to disguise himself as a brown haired, brown eyed ninja. He blended in perfectly with the crowd of civilians on a busy weekday night, unlike his normal appearance that distinctively stood out due to his blond hair.

"So, what are we even gonna buy Sakura? I don't have much money since we haven't started missions and ramen is cheap too! That's why I always buy it in bulk." Naruto said.

Sakura threw him the look, but it was much softer than usual. _So that's why he ate so much ramen when he was younger. He didn't have any money to buy actual food and the habit of eating cheap instant ramen stuck on forever._ "It's fine Naruto. I have some allowance money that I can use to help you buy food. It's not like I pay for my own food back at home. You can pay me back after we start doing missions."

The disguised brown haired ninja smiled. "Thanks Sakura! Though, I still would prefer ramen..."

A tick mark appeared on Sakura's forehead and it stopped Naruto from making any further comments. They walked into a small grocery store where Sakura usually went to buy fresh fruits and vegetables for the Hanuro household.

"Ishikura-san! Are you here?" Sakura shouted into the shop as the two entered. Although the shop was quite small, the shelves were crammed with everything from fruits to chips.

Ishikura Ai, the owner of the shop, stepped out from the back. The shopkeeper, a woman in her early sixties, welcomed Sakura warmly. "Good evening Sakura! Buying groceries for your parents again? You're such a kind soul. How can I help you?"

"Actually, I came here to help my friend buy his groceries. He's been living off of cup ramen and I want to buy some healthy food for once." Sakura answered with a bow.

The woman turned to Naruto and smiled. Naruto smiled back, feeling relieved that he wasn't being chased out or yelled at due to his _henge_ that covered his real face. "Well hello Sakura's friend! What's your name?"

Naruto hesitated before answering. "My name is... Nagato. Pleased to meet you."

"Well Nagato, I know that Sakura will be able to help you easily! She's been coming to my shop for years, ever since she was a little girl, to buy her parent's groceries!" Ishikura said as he shook the boy's hand. "Since it's your first time here and you're a friend of Sakura, I'll give you a small discount. After all, young boys like you need to eat and grow!"

The brown (or blond) haired boy thanked the woman and went back to Sakura, who already had a basket full of assorted vegetables, fruits, meats, and dairy products. She knew the bottomless pit that Naruto called his stomach and had to buy at least double the amount of what her _entire family_ would eat for him to survive the next week or two. "Here Naruto. There's a mix of every food class in the basket, enough food to last you a week or two I think." She handed him a small piece of folded paper. "Just make sure to eat the appropriate amount of servings written on the paper each day and it'll keep you healthy."

Naruto nodded, but his eyes still wandered hungrily to the pack of instant ramen on one of the shelves. "Sakura-chan... Can I just get one pack of instant ramen?"

"Maybe if you do well for a week Naruto. You can still go to Ichiraku's Ramen once a day since they actually make their noodles and use fresh ingredients, but you have to avoid the instant and cup ramen. They have a lot of artificial ingredients..."

"Yeah yeah. I got you Sakura. I'll eat the food." Naruto took the basket from her and pulled out his wallet. "Because I know you're looking out for me."

She gave her teammate a small tap on the back of his head and smiled. "And maybe after eating healthy for a few months, you'll be finally taller than me and the others!"

"Oi! I'm not that small!"

Naruto went up to the shopkeeper with the basket and wallet in hand. "How much for all of this?"

Ishikura looked over the contents of the basket for a few minutes and calculated the number on a piece of paper. "That will be 20,000 Ryo with the discount!"

With a small gulp, Naruto turned towards Sakura. "You said I can borrow some money from you, right? I only have 5,000 Ryo. I promise I'll pay you back after the first few missions thought..."

The old woman looked at the young ninja. "Nagato, do you not have enough money?"

"I apologize Ishikura-san. Nar..Nagato is my teammate and he's an orphan that lives by himself, so I told him that I'll let him borrow some of my money. Here, I'll pay for him instead." Sakura interjected, already pulling out her wallet."

Instead of accepting the money, Ishikura shook her head. "No, it's fine Sakura. Nagato, since you're an orphan and you're living alone, I'll let you have the groceries today for free. But do come back and buy more in the future when you have money. Just, keep this a secret. I don't want the villagers to come to my store and ask for free food! That would be terrible for my business!"

Nagato didn't know what to say. He had never really been treated so nicely before he defeated Pein, in which he earned the respect and trust of the villagers. "Thank you Ishikura-san! I'll definitely pay you back in the future!"

The old lady laughed as she placed all the items in a bag. "That's the spirit! Now run along you two and have fun on your date."

"We're not on a date!" Both Naruto and Sakura answered in unison, with their cheeks tinged pink.

After leaving the shop, Naruto grabbed the bag and ran off. He still had a slight tinge of pink on his cheek. "Bye Sakura! Thanks for everything today! I'll see you tomorrow!"

Sakura watched as her teammate ran away. When she was about to walk away herself, she realized that he had dropped his wallet in his haste. " _Baka_ always making me look out for him."

* * *

Naruto arrived back at his apartment and hurried inside. He shoved the food that he had bought, or received, into the refrigerator and immediately went to take a quick shower before continuing with anything else. Within a flash, Naruto washed himself and dried himself with a towel. He slapped on some shorts and undershirt for comfort and walked back into the kitchen. He looked at the small piece of paper that Sakura had given him and scratched his head.

"Around 3 servings of grain every meal, which is around 3 slices of bread or a cup of rice... 2 servings of vegetables per meal, which is about 2 cups of vegetables or a full cup of vegetable juice..." Naruto rambled on. "Damn, this list is long! I didn't know I had to eat so specifically when I agreed to do this!"

He pulled out some of the food that he bought from the refrigerator and placed it on the counter, only to stare at the food for a solid 5 minutes. "Now what? Do I eat these raw or?"

A knock on the door didn't answer his question, but formed another question in his head. "Who would visit me right now? And how do they even know I live here?"

Naruto peeped out the small fisheye that allowed him to see the person visiting him outside. The person was a pink haired girl with a red shirt and black shorts.

"Sakura? What are you doing here?" Naruto asked the pink haired ninja.

She rolled her eyes and shoved the wallet into his face. "You dropped your wallet _baka._ Do you have to be irresponsible even when you're 17?"

The undisguised blonde scratched the back of his head. "Well... No, I was just in sort of a haste after that _oba chan_ said that we were on a date. I didn't want anyone else getting the wrong idea."

Sakura sighed at his response. "It's fine. It's not even that big of a deal. You didn't need to run away so fast. Besides, it's not like Sasuke is my boyfriend or anything."

"But you love Sasuke, Sakura!" Naruto exclaimed. "So it's not a good idea if the villagers started spreading some rumor that you're dating some brown haired ninja dude."

"Honestly Naruto? It doesn't matter. I don't care about that at all. I'll figure out what to do with Sasuke later on. For now, we're all teammates looking out for each other." Sakura replied with a shrug. _I probably shouldn't tell him that I'm not really seeing Sasuke the way I used to see him._

Naruto nodded, understanding what she said. "Before you go Sakura. Can you show me how to make a proper meal? This is kinda new to me... I never really tried it."

Sakura stared at the Uzumaki as if he was lying. "You can't cook. Like anything?"

"I can cook rice!" Naruto defended himself. He often put rice in his ramen to enjoy the soup. "And ramen!"

"That's it? You, a possibly S-Ranked ninja, can't even cook something as simple as eggs or meat?"

Seeing her teammate from the future shake his head made her facepalm. "Guess you can't be good at everything."

"Fine, I'm sure my mom won't mind. You can come over to my house for dinner and learn how to cook some basics by helping her cook." Sakura announced to her teammate. _I'm a decent cook, but my mom would probably teach him better. Besides, if he comes, I won't need to help mom cook for today._

"Really? Then let's leave now!" Naruto yelled excitedly, literally dragging Sakura out into the hallways.

"SHANNARO!" Sakura punched the blond as he was hit with a familiar sensation. "At least put on some decent clothes! You're literally in your pajamas right now!"

* * *

"Wow so this is your house? It's pretty nice actually." Naruto stared at the comfortable sized house in front of him. He had his black jacket and black shorts on, and also carried a small notebook and a pencil. "I never visited your house before, even before Pein blew up the village."

"Inviting you for dinner was the last thing that crossed my mind with all the things that were going down at the time." Sakura shrugged. "My dad is a pretty rich merchant, so we have some money. He's off in the Land of the Wind for some business, so it's only me and my mom in the house right now."

He nodded as the duo stepped inside. "Mom, I'm home! I brought a friend with me too!"

Mebuki Hanuro peeked out the opening into the kitchen. "Oh! It's a boy!"

She scurried over to Naruto to shake his hand. "You must be Sasuke Uchiha that Sakura always talk about. I'm Mebuki, pleased to meet you!"

Before Naruto could say anything, Sakura stepped in. " _Mom, this guy isn't Sasuke_ _!_ He's one of my teammates, his name is Naruto! Naruto Uzumaki!"

The friendliness in Mebuki's eyes didn't die as she patted the boy's head. "Even so, he's pretty cute. Are you going after multiple guys at once now, Sakura?"

Sakura looked flustered. "Mom! I brought Naruto over so he can learn to cook and eat dinner with us. He's not my boyfriend or anything!"

"Ah, I see." A hint of disappointment flashed in Mebuki's eyes. "Well then, Naruto. What would you like to learn?"

She guided Naruto to the kitchen while Sakura went upstairs to her room. _Why has everyone assumed that I'm dating Naruto for the past 2 days?_

 _Dunno, because you two suddenly became super friendly with each other out of nowhere?_ Someone in her head answered. _I mean, it's not unreasonable. You've been acting close with him all the time._

Sakura froze for a moment. "Inner Sakura? Why are you back?"

 _That's my question to you. I don't exist unless you will me to._

"I haven't heard your voice in forever... And I didn't hear your voice when I came back. Why are you appearing back in my life right now?"

 _Like I said, I don't know. Maybe it's because of the time travel. Maybe it's because you have issues to settle._

The only daughter of the Hanuro family groaned. "Great, I already have a lot of things running through my head. You don't need to in my head also."

 _I'm your inner self that you refuse to reveal. Maybe in the future, I'll disappear like last time._

"Maybe..."

She read a book on medical ninjutsu testing out some of the exercises described in the book and pushing her abilities further. Her studying session came to an end in 10 minutes when her mother shouted at her.

"Sakura! Come down! We're having dinner!"

As she made her way downstairs, Sakura noticed that the smell coming from the kitchen actually smelled _good._ She expected that with Naruto helping her mother make the food, dinner would be mediocre at best. Yet the dinner, consisting some salad, fried rice, and some sliced chicken teriyaki, actually seemed pretty good. She sat down next to Naruto and began eating, impressed with the fact that the cooking tasted better than usual.

"Your friend Naruto is a natural cook." Her mother said with a smile. "He's very good with the knife and he's very good at memorizing ingredients. His shadow clones were very helpful and managed to help me finish dinner within minutes!"

"So is _that_ why dinner was finished in 10 minutes?" Sakura asked. "That's not fair... That's basically cheating..."

Naruto shrugged as he shoved some chicken and salad in his mouth. "Maybe you should learn to cook from me one day."

 _That's a horrifying thought_ Sakura shuddered. "No thanks. Just eat your food and stop talking Naruto, you're going to make a mess!"

"Mfpphhh." Naruto said with his mouthful. Sakura knew that he was just doing that to irritate her, but she couldn't punch the idiot in front of her own mother. So she lifted her foot and stomped on his foot.

Food nearly shot out of Naruto's mouth as he stumbled forward from pain. Mebuki seemed unaware of what her daughter had done to Naruto. "Naruto! Are you alright?"

Seeing the smirk on Sakura's face and her fist clamped shut, Naruto quickly nodded. "I'm fine! I just, chocked on some of the chicken."

The meal was quick and short, with Naruto being bombarded by a few personal questions that Naruto answered without revealing anything of importance, a skill he learned from Kakashi. After several minutes of chit chat, Naruto rose to leave. "Thank you for the food and the hospitality, Hanuro-san."

"You're being too formal Naruto-kun! Just call me Mebuki-san." Sakura's mother smiled. "Do come visit often and help me cook. Maybe Sakura can actually learn a thing or two from you."

Naruto grinned and waved to Sakura, who waved back with a smile on her face. When the doors closed, Naruto brought out a piece of paper with some instructions written on it and ran back to his home.

He was going to wake up and test something out tomorrow...

* * *

"Where is Naruto?" Sakura was pacing around in a circle while Sasuke was leaning against a tree. "It's almost time for Kakashi to come!"

Sasuke's position did not change as he gazed out into the distance. Sakura sighed. _He's still some wannabe emo. A lot better than that bloodthirsty block head in the future though. We'll make sure that he doesn't kill his brother and betray his village._

There was a rustling noise from one of the trees as Naruto jumped out of a tree suddenly and landed in front of his other teammates. "Yosh! Sorry I'm late, but I already predicted that Kakashi-sensei would be late because of yesterday. In the mean time, I was making you guys breakfast to prepare ourselves for the training!"

Sakura looked puzzled. "Breakfast?"

"Yep! Made some bento boxes with rice, some eggs mixed with some vegetables, and some fishcake with sauce. One for each one of us!" Naruto announced. "Here, try some!"

She took one of the bento boxes and opened it. She was surprised to find that Naruto had actually managed to cook everything right and began to munch on the food, shooting a nodding thumbs up to Naruto. "These are really good Naruto!"

"Thanks! Only took me like 2 hours of testing and trial!" Naruto replied with a laugh. He handed a box to Sasuke. "Yo teme. You should try some too!"

"Didn't you listen to the sensei yesterday, dobe?" Sasuke answered monotony. "He said not to eat breakfast."

Naruto scoffed. "Yeah, but he's gonna probably put us through some tough training and I would rather suffer through hell with a full belly than an empty stomach. So eat up! Before the sensei comes."

Sasuke looked at the box and took it out of Naruto's hands. He opened the box and dug into the food, seemingly enjoying the breakfast.

After the three had finished, Naruto carefully stacked the bento boxes back into his backpack and laid back. "And now, we wait!"

* * *

"Hey guys, good morning!" Kakashi waved to his pupils

All three of them glared at him. "You're late by 4 hours sensei! It's 10 AM right now!"

He merely shrugged. "I got lost on the road of life, what can I say?"

Kakashi led them all to an open field with four stumps at the edges of the field. He placed an alarm clock on one of the stumps and motioned for them to place their backpacks near the other stumps. "The clock is set for noon."

"Here are two bells." Kakashi said as he pulled two small silver bells from his pouch. "Your task is to take these from me before the time's up. And the person who doesn't take a bell fails. So at least one of you here will be sent back to the academy."

The silver haired jounin continued. "You most likely won't succeed in this test if you don't come at me with the intention to kill."

He looked around as if he expected an outburst from one of the Genin, but all three were silent with their kunai out in front of them.

"Ok then... Let's get going..."

"Ready..."

"Begin..."

All three Genin in front of him disappeared from sight, the test had begun.

* * *

 **AN:** And you will see the actual bell test happen in the next update!

For now, I'll end the chapter here! If you have any criticism or suggestions, feel free to drop a comment down below!


	3. Chapter 3

**AN:** As I write this one at 1 AM on a Monday morning, I just want to thank all of you for your support so far. I've never felt so motivated to type away on my keyboard and your support and comments is what keeps me going. So on a personal note, thank you!

Now as the story continues, will Team Seven survive its first (or third for Naruto/Sakura) test against Kakashi? Can the team really be the first team to ever steal the bell from their jounin instructor?

 **Bankai777:** I mean, Rasenringu is a powerful jutsu. But I'm not sure why Naruto want to learn it if he already has the Rasengan and all its variants. After all, Rasenringu is technically a "dark" version of the Rasengan. As for the Hiraishin, Naruto will definitely learn it in the future... That's all I will say about that.

 **Frankieu:** We'll see in future chapters :)

 **Badger94:** Thank you! Keep your hopes up because the story will continue :)

 **THE 7TH DEMON OF RAZGRIZ:** Thanks! Means a lot to me.

 **Yojimbra:** The bench scene, although interesting, isn't really a key piece of the story. After all, Naruto won't mug Sasuke and transform into him to ask Sakura about himself because they've been friends for _years_. I did remove the "sweatdrop" part, thank you for pointing that out! And Inner Sakura appeared for a reason. Whether it was because the time travel or because of Naruto, nobody knows just yet.

 **KunnegAndris:** I just feel like NaruHina was too forced at the end. Honestly, it would've made a lot more sense if Naruto was paired with Sakura after all they've been through, but the entire love story for NaruHina is squashed into one movie and it didn't make too sense in the end. I'll take some of your suggestions to heart, I already edited out the "sweatdrop" part. The Third Hokage will play a bigger role in this story, yes.

 **thedarkpokemaster:** Sakura's feelings are still not clear. She's, in the simplest term, confused of her state. She doesn't really exactly see Naruto as a potential love interest (yet?), but at the same time, she isn't that attracted to Sasuke. As for people that will be saved is a secret, but I already have a general list of things that Konoha's Might Duo (maybe Trio if Sasuke actually joins the two) can change. And yes, they will save some minor characters (spoilers! Somebody in the comment section already mentioned some names that I will definitely look into). As for the book trick... It'll only work once but I'm sure the two can create a solution for the second time around.

 **Cao510:** Yes, the two are still friends. They're basically like comrades/friends/partners. Naruto can still control the Nine Tails and use the Nine Tails Cloak (including Kurama mode). Though he'll still need to practice due to his rusty chakra control and the fact that his young body will not be able to hold the powers of the Nine Tails for too long.

I know many of you have commented that Sakura's mother's name is actually Mebuki. That was a mistake on my part and I have fixed it. Thank you all for pointing that out.

* * *

"The most important thing for a shinobi is to be able to hide yourself." Kakashi said loudly, rubbing the back of his head. After he said start, the three young ninjas had disappeared into the woods surrounding the field, instantly going into hiding. Instead of going into a battle stance, Kakashi casually pulled out a copy of _Icha Icha Paradise_ and started reading. After a few minutes of silence, Kakashi nodded. _Interesting. I would've thought that Naruto would've came out screaming. I'm quite impressed, seems like he's not totally immature and useless._

Kakashi had already pinned the location of the three Genin, but didn't know that they were all shadow clones of Naruto. The real three members of Team Seven were deeper in the woods, with Sakura and Naruto forcefully dragging Sasuke along.

"Let me go dobe!" Sasuke yelled as two Naruto clones dragged him next to the other two members of Team Seven. "We're supposed to fight Kakashi and take the bells from him, not retreat and waste time!"

Sakura gave Sasuke the same treatment she usually gave Naruto, a small thump to the head. Although Naruto was used to it, Sasuke didn't expect a punch and wasn't used to being thumped by a fangirl. She gave the Rookie of the Year a glare. "Shut up Sasuke. We need to make a plan if we want to beat Kakashi-sensei. He's a jounin, do you think it'll be that easy to take the bells from him?"

The Uchiha gave her a dubious look. "What are you suggesting?"

"She means that this test isn't a test of individual skill, but teamwork." Naruto explained to Sasuke. "Think about it. We're three fresh idiots out of the Academy. Do you really think that he'll expect us to beat him? Honestly, if he really tried, he could probably kill all three of us with ease."

Reflecting on those words, Sasuke grimly nodded. "Since when did you start making so much sense _dobe_?"

"I'll prove today that I'm not a Dead Last anymore, _teme._ " Naruto growled.

"Now is not exactly the time to fight you two." Sakura rotated her wrist, thrusting out her hand menacingly. "Naruto and I have already made a plan to fight Kakashi, but we need to know what your skills are."

Sasuke's brows arched in curiosity as he stared at the blond ninja and the pink haired ninja. "So the Dead Last and the fan girl made a plan? Normally, I wouldn't exactly trust you two to do anything and go ahead to fight Kakashi by myself. But I caught a glimpse of you two training yesterday and I'm guessing you two are actually taking this seriously."

"I'm a good taijutsu fighter, I can break basic genjutsu, and I know a variety of _katon_ jutsu. My strongest jutsu would be the _Gokakyu no Jutsu_ , the Great Fireball Jutsu." Sasuke listed.

Sakura already knew this, but she wanted to make it look like she didn't have any prior knowledge of his skills because she wasn't a stalker. Or at least... She wasn't anymore. "I have a plan that should be able to show our team work to Kakashi and to grab the bells to impress him further. I have no guarantees it'll work, but it should at least give an impression that we're all working together. Naruto, how long till your shadow clones disperse?"

Naruto scratched his head. "They'll be able to go for a long time and take a hit or two because I put extra chakra in them, but Kakashi will definitely become suspicious in like 10 to 20 minutes if we don't act."

The pink haired ninja nodded. "Alright, I'll give you a basic run down of our abilities so you also have a basic idea of what we can do. If the plan goes wrong or we have to improvise, you can call us out if you see an opening and we'll help you out."

The raven haired boy looked reluctant, but didn't object as Sakura began to call out their abilities. "I have really good strength, enough to shatter boulders, trees, and create fissures in the ground. I can also use basic medical ninjutsu to heal cuts and bruises. I'm also decent at genjutsu, though I don't have much practice in that."

"I'm pretty strong at taijutsu and I have a lot of chakra. I can literally create thousands of solid clones if I wants to. I can also use a couple of _fuuton_ jutsu." Naruto listed after Sakura.

Sasuke was slightly impressed at the two. The fan girl could apparently use medical ninjutsu, a very difficult field to master, and the class idiot apparently was a wind user and had a large storage of chakra.

"Now that we explained everything, here's the brief run down of the plan..."

* * *

"So, you finally decide to show yourself?" Kakashi said without looking up from his book. "I was impressed that you stayed hidden for so long, but I should've known that you would come out by yourself."

Naruto gave his trademark grin to the sensei. "I might not be powerful like you sensei, but I have plenty of tricks up my sleeve. I'll make sure to defeat you and take those bells!"

The silver haired ninja shook his head. "Go ahead Naruto, I'll let you attack me first."

"Will do sensei!" Naruto yelled as he rushed forward with his arms swinging wildly. He brought his right arm forward as he attempted to punch Kakashi in the face... Only for the sensei to duck the punch.

Pretending to be frustrated, Naruto gritted his teeth and brought out his left leg to kick the squatting jounin. Despite his rather decent speed, the jounin easily dodged the kick and ended up behind the blonde.

"A shinobi isn't supposed to get caught from behind... _Baka..._ " Kakashi said with a smile under his mask. His eyes twinkled as he shouted loudly. "Hidden Leaf Ancient Taijutsu Supreme Technique! A Thousand Years of Pain!"

The bewildered expression of Naruto as Kakashi rammed his fingers up the boy's butt was priceless and would've made Kakashi chuckle for days, but "Naruto" popped after being hit by Kakashi's fingers.

 _Crap! A shadow clone!_ Kakashi said, turning around quickly to see the real Naruto charging forward with Kakashi.

Sasuke made the hand seals and sucked in a deep breath. " _Katon:_ _Gokakyu no Jutsu!"_

At the same time, Naruto formed his own hand seals and blew. " _Fuuton: Kaze Gyorai no Jutsu (Wind Style: Wind Torpedo)!"_

A massive fireball was launched from Sasuke's mouth while a wind torpedo was launched towards the fireball. After colliding with the fireball, the strength and the speed of the fireball instantly increased, making it move rapidly towards Kakashi.

 _A collaboration jutsu to increase the power of the fireball by adding the wind element to it. I definitely didn't see that coming._ Kakashi thought as the fireball streaked towards him. _How the heck did they even have time to figure that out? I thought Sasuke and Naruto hated each other..._

Even Kakashi knew that the fireball was too fast to avoid, so he quickly formed hand seals. " _Doton! Shinjuu Zanshu No Jutsu (Earth Style: Inner Decapitation)."_

The fireball smashed into the ground where he was standing right as he ducked into the ground below. The fireball itself created a large crater and he quickly burrowed himself underground and traveled towards the two unsuspecting Genin, or so Kakashi thought.

Right after using the jutsu, Naruto had closed his eyes and began to use his enhanced senses to detect Kakashi. Sasuke turned to the ninja and looked at him oddly. "Are you falling asleep in battle, _dobe_?"

"No. Kakashi-sensei is a jounin. He most likely avoided that attack, even though the collaboration jutsu was extremely fast and powerful. I'm sensing him right now and trying to find where he is so we don't get ambushed." Naruto replied. _Kurama, I'm gonna need your help on this._

 **You got it Kit.** Kurama replied. **I'll give you just a hint of my chakra to enhance your senses for the time being.**

After a few seconds, Naruto opened his eyes and yelled towards the forest. "Now Sakura!"

"SHANNARO!" A pink blur emerged from the forest. Sakura focused her chakra into her right hand and quickly released the chakra that was collected into her fist onto the ground. Despite the fact that her physical body was not as strong as it was before, her chakra control was still decent and her prior knowledge of directing chakra to her fists allowed her to shatter the ground 20 feet radius around the epicenter.

Team Seven jumped away from the ground as fissures appeared on the ground. And out from the fissure came out Kakashi, who looked rather battered from the blast.

 _So they used that collaboration jutsu to force me to run away and they prepared to counter me from every potential angle when I attacked again, forcing me to come out from my hiding. Using Sakura's monstrous strength, they were able to counter my doton jutsu with ease._ Kakashi thought as he dusted himself off. _Impressive._

"My my. I'm quite surprised that the three of you are working well together. But you now have 30 minutes until the test is over. If you don't take the bells, you fail." Kakashi told the team without pulling out his book. It seemed like his pupils were putting together a valiant effort, so it was time for him to step it up also.

Naruto stepped forward in front of the other two with a mischievous grin. "So sensei. I saw that you were reading the _Icha Icha Paradise_ book. While I was passing by a small book store in the marketplace, I managed to grab a copy and read the ending of the book since all the male teachers seemed to be engrossed in the book. Wanna hear it? It's pretty juicy actually."

Kakashi's single eye widened. "No! Don't tell me!"

"So basically, in the end, the main character.." Naruto began to say.

In a flash, Kakashi covered his ears as he shook his head. _I MUST NOT KNOW._

"Now, Sasuke and Sakura!"

Sasuke and Sakura rushed forward, with Sasuke taking the lead. He slammed into Kakashi, only to find himself attacking a log.

" _Kawarimi no Jutsu_." Sakura simply said. "Naruto, can you sense him?"

Naruto closed his eyes and focused again. "Coming behind you two!"

In a blink of an eye, Kakashi appeared behind Sakura and Sasuke, blocking their view of Naruto. "Guess I'll have to actually try harder then. You guys are getting really creative."

As he was preparing his hand to use a jutsu, a pair of hands shot out of the ground and grabbed the jounin's feet. Naruto grinned and yelled. "Now Sasuke!"

Sasuke rushed forward and gave a strong punch into the stomach of his sensei. While Kakashi was in the air, Sakura followed almost immediately, using Sasuke as a boost to fly towards her sensei and crash her fist down onto Kakashi's back. She made sure that her punch would cause pain, but not to cause permanent damage.

The mighty Konoha ninja crashed into the ground at high speed with the wind completely knocked out of him. As he was struggling to stand up, Naruto pulled out his kunai and performed some handseals to use a jutsu. " _Fuuton: Seijitsu Kaze-ken (Wind Style: Faithful Wind Blade)!"_

He slashed his kunai into the air, causing a wind blade to head towards Kakashi. The wind blade, intentionally made small, sliced the strings that was keeping the bells attached to jounin's pants. As the bells fell toward the ground, Sasuke moved rapidly to grab the bells before it touched the ground. The silver bells were in his hand as he let out a triumphant smirk.

The alarm clock that Kakashi had set earlier finally rang. In reality, only two hours passed. To the 4 ninjas in Training Grounds 3, it seemed like 5 minutes.

"So." Kakashi said, as calmly as possible. "Who is going to drop out and go back to the academy? All three of you did well and contributed to the end of the test in the end."

To everyone's surprise, it was Sasuke that spoke up first. "I'll go. I saw these two training yesterday and fighting side by side today. I might be stronger than Sakura and maybe even Naruto, but they work better as a team. They were the ones that developed the plan and made sure that all our strengths were played correctly. I will return to the academy myself."

"Yeah and let the Rookie of the Year lose his chance on advancing?" Naruto scoffed. "I volunteer to head back. Sasuke is skilled and is more tactical. It was mainly Sakura that developed the strategy, not me. Sakura and Sasuke together will make a good team, with Sasuke's expertise in ninjutsu and taijutsu and Sakura's expertise in medical ninjutsu."

Sakura rolled her eyes at that comment. "You're both better than me at all aspects except strength. The only thing I'm good at is punching things and healing things. If anything, the two of you that are skilled in ninjutsu and taijutsu should be promoted to Genin. I can just practice harder in the Academy and take the test again in the future."

"Well... I guess I'll have to decide... And I have decided that all of you have... PASSED!" Kakashi announced cheerfully.

* * *

Kakashi was speechless. He honestly had nothing to say.

"You know, I actually didn't prepare a speech in the case that you somehow managed to show that you were worthy of being Genin or _actually took the bells from me_." Kakashi emphasized the last part, with a hint of bitterness in his voice. "I guess all I have to say is, you did absolutely outstanding today."

Naruto and Sakura grinned while Sasuke gave out a small smirk. Kakashi continued. "Your individual skills were quite outstanding, but it was your teamwork that was absolutely flawless. To think that Sasuke would combine his fire jutsu with Naruto's wind jutsu was unimaginable for me. Both of you have rather powerful ninjutsu skills for your age. It also seems like Naruto had enhanced senses and was able to warn you two accordingly to react quickly and to avoid my ambushes. Sakura's strength managed to force me out of the ground and knocked the finishing blow in the end, which Sasuke helped in by engaging in taijutsu first to create an opening. To see that all three of you were playing off each other's strengths and covering any potential weaknesses... Your plan was executed flawlessly. I do have to give you credit Naruto, your distraction using the _Icha Icha Paradise_ as bait worked quite well and I reacted without even thinking. Perhaps if we take the test next time, I won't hold back as much and will only read books that I've already finished during the test."

"It's really funny, because you three were supposed to be the most dysfunctional group in all of history: the loud Dead Last, the fan girl that's obsessed with the Self Centered Emo, and the Self Centered Emo. Yet you three defied all expectations and became the first group ever to pass my test, and only the second group to ever actually take the bells. This test has actually been passed down from the Third Hokage himself. One of his student's student was my team leader, who did the test on me. Now, I pass this test down to you three."

"Who were in the first team that passed?" Naruto asked, already knowing the answer but wanting to give Sasuke further motivation.

Kakashi adjusted his mask a bit. "The Legendary Sannin. Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru."

Sasuke's eyes widened at this, but made no comment. Naruto and Sakura merely nodded. "So I guess we're that good?" Naruto casually said, his hands behind his head.

"I won't say anything, but I can already see Tsunade in Sakura. I can see why Sakura sees her as a role model. Other than that, I can't say. From now on, what you do will change your destiny as a ninja. But before I let you all go, I want you all to remember one thing." Kakashi said. "A ninja must see underneath the underneath. Those who break the rules and codes of the ninja world are called trash. But, you know what? Those who don't care of their comrades... are lower than trash. You three showed excellent team work today and showed that each of you cared for your comrade. Keep your bonds strong and _never_ abandon your comrades."

All three nodded, as even Sasuke gave a small nod to their sensei.

"Good! Now let's head back! Now I have these boxed lunches for you, but I don't think that's exactly enough to show your excellence in passing. So I'll buy lunch just this one time." Kakashi waved for his team to follow him as they collected their things and headed out. "Where do you guys want to eat?"

"Ichiraku's Ra..."

"SHANNARO!"

Naruto went flying as Sakura punched him squarely in the chest. Kakashi winced and rubbed the spot where Sakura had punched him during the training. Despite her size, the girl had incredible strength. As Naruto stumbled back to the group, Kakashi made a mental note to not mess with Sakura when she was in a bad mood. Next to the jounin, Sasuke was also making mental notes, as today's training had completely changed his perspective on his teammates.

"Naruto, for the last time! You're supposed to be ramen-free for the week!" Sakura yelled at the blond boy. "What's the point of eating healthy if you just gobble up tons of ramen?"

"Just this once, please Sakura! I didn't have ramen all day yesterday!" Naruto groaned. "Besides, ramen is cheap and I don't think Kakashi sensei would want to spend money on an expensive place like barbecue. Right sensei?"

Glancing at Sakura, who was definitely giving Kakashi _the_ look, Kakashi shook his head. "I think we should go to the barbecue place. I have some money in my wallet from a previous mission. It should be enough for today."

Sakura smirked as Naruto fell onto the ground in defeat. "I'll treat you to Ichiraku's Ramen next week Naruto, cheer up!"

"If we weren't friends Sakura, I probably would've beaten you up and forced you to eat ramen everyday for every meal for a month." Naruto grumbled.

"Did you say something?" Sakura asked, towering over the boy.

Naruto quickly got up. "N...No no. I'm fine Sakura! I'll go to the barbecue shop, don't worry!"

Sasuke watched this in silence, only give out a small "Hn" as he found the fact that Sakura was easily putting Naruto in line. _Naruto is definitely strong, but he still can't fight back against a girl..._

 _If I haven't checked their school records and asked the teachers about the two, I would've assumed that they have been friends for years._ Kakashi thought as they headed back towards town. _Yet, I know that Sakura hated Naruto and never talked to him before Team 7 together. Could the conversation on the Academy roof been real?_

* * *

The Third Hokage and Iruka were in the Hokage's office, awaiting the result of Team Seven's exam. It was a tradition for the jounin sensei to report if the team had passed or failed to the Hokage after the test, and Iruka had insisted on waiting for the results of the team that Naruto was in.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, God of Shinobi, smoked his pipe as Kakashi entered his office. "So Kakashi, how was the exam for Team Seven? Did you fail them like all the other teams you had in the past?"

The cyclops rubbed his chin as he answered. "Well... How do I put this... Team Seven passed with flying colors. In my opinion, they are literally _the_ best and organized team I've ever seen."

"So does that mean they passed the team work exercise?" Sarutobi asked the ninja.

"More than just pass the team work part." The masked jounin answered. "They manage to actually take the bells away from me."

Sarutobi stared long and hard at the powerful Leaf jounin. "You're joking."

"No, I'm not. Of course, I didn't use my sharingan because they were only Genin, but they managed to work together to defeat me." Kakashi shrugged. "They utilized their strengths very well and took me by surprise."

"That is not something I would've ever expected." Sarutobi replied after a moment of silence. "I expected them to work together in the end to pass, but to defeat you and grab the bells? I didn't think that was possible for that team."

Kakashi nodded. "It seems like they came up with a plan in the forest while I was distracted by reading my book. They supported each other and pushed each other forward using their strengths. For example, Sasuke combined his fireball jutsu with Naruto's wind jutsu to boost the speed and power of the fireball. Later on, Sasuke would attack me to creat an opening for Sakura to use her immense strength to knock me to the ground. It's as if they were predicting what I was going to do and parried all my moves."

He turned to Iruka, who was looking surprised as the hokage. "I was told that the members of my team were very different from each other and would not be able to work together as a team. I was also told that Naruto was a Dead Last and that Sakura was only book smart and completely inept in battle. I don't think the Academy judged them fairly based on what I saw today. Naruto used two chunin level _fuuton_ techniques today and showed leadership by calling out commands during the fight. He also seems to have enhanced sensing abilities and managed to detect me underground. Meanwhile, Sakura displayed the ability to make plans on the spot and showed incredible strength during the fight. One punch from her knocked the wind out of me and she managed to crack the ground and create fissures just by _punching_ it. I would say that the Academy underrated the two greatly. Sasuke was good, but even he wouldn't have been able to beat me if he didn't work with his team."

The hokage slowly nodded. "So in the end, they managed to defeat you. They're only the second team to actually grab the bells..."

"It was a surprise, but a pleasant one." Kakashi smiled under the mask. "I have great expectations for them in the future... Perhaps Team Seven will be the greatest rookie team, even better than the Legendary Sennin."

Sarutobi dismissed the two and the chunnin and jounin walked out of the office. The Third Hokage wanted them to leave because he had two very special guests coming over right afterwards.

"Come in you two. And I believe you should have an explanation on what happened today?" Lord Third coughed. "Not that I doubted your skills, Naruto."

The door opened to reveal two grinning Genin, Naruto and Sakura. They closed the doors behind them and greeted the hokage. Naruto messed with his headband as he grinned at the old man. " _Jiji_ , I'm really glad to see you. Before I say what I need to say, can you possibly tell your ANBU guards to leave and have a silencing seal placed on the room?"

The leader of Konoha raised his hand. Immediately, three people that were guarding the hokage disappeared out of the room while the hokage's secretary placed a silencing seal over the room. "This must be quite important, Naruto. What exactly do you have to tell me?"

Naruto glanced over at Sakura and the pink haired girl nodded in reply. "Sakura and I... Well. We're from the future."

"Oh?" Sarutobi looked at the two curiously. "From the future?"

"You might not believe it _jiji_ , but our minds are from 5 years into the future. I used a forbidden time manipulation jutsu only known to the tailed beasts in order to come back because my friends and I were about to die. My goal was to change the future enough to prevent the Fourth Shinobi World War and saved thousands of lives." Naruto explained. "You see, in five years, Uchiha Madara will use this guy named Tobi, or Obito Uchiha, in order to start a war against the entire shinobi world. He and the Akatsuki managed to seal 7 of the 9 tailed beasts in order to create the Ten Tails and declared war in order to get the last two tailed beasts, which happened to be in this ninja named Bee from the Hidden Cloud and me. We fought Obito's forces, but he managed to revive the Ten Tails and destroyed our forces. Right before I was transported back, the Ten Tails was using a Tailed Beast Ball to destroy the remaining members of the Allied Shinobi Forces. Since it was a life and death situation, Kurama agreed to teach me the jutsu and send me back. While I was using the jutsu to come back in time, Sakura jumped in and was transported with me, so now the two of us are here with all our memories from the future."

Shocked from the explanation, the hokage sat down in his chair heavily. "That is... Quite a tale Naruto. So you're telling me that _another_ world wide shinobi war will break out, that Uchiha Madara is somehow alive, that Obito, who died on a mission as Kakashi's teammate, is still alive, and that this group called the "Akatsuki" will go around collecting tailed beasts from jinchuuriki. It's quite hard to swallow, if you can look at it from my point of view."

"I don't have solid proof with me right now, _jiji._ " Naruto admitted. "When I came back with Sakura, only my mind and my spiritual energy came back. But I can show you this."

Naruto closed his eyes and reached out into the back of his mind. _Kurama? I can maintain the Kurama Nine Tails Chakra Mode, right?_

 **You can, but only for a couple of minutes Kit.** Kurama said. **Since it's a demonstration, you should be fine.**

 _Good. Then I'll borrow your chakra._ Naruto thought. Almost immediately, Naruto's body began to glow. His body was suddenly covered in orange chakra and created a cloak made from pure chakra. His whiskers became black stripes on his cheeks and black lines appeared on his arms and legs.

"This is my Nine Tails Chakra Mode." Naruto explained to the hokage, who was visibly surprised and disturbed. "I can completely control the fox and communicate with him. This is one of the cloaks I can use with the Nine Tail's chakra. If I wanted to, I can also make a Tailed Beast Ball with my hands right now, but that's probably not a good idea."

"You can talk to the Nine Tails and control its power?" Sarutobi asked, shocked at the revelation.

"His. I can control _his_ power." Naruto answered. "It's a long story, but Kurama, the Nine Tails, decided to become my comrade and friend after seeing my selfless actions during my entire life. He was the one who allowed me to use the forbidden jutsu to come back. We're equal partners. And I think I can show you one additional thing for you to be convinced."

The blond ninja focused his chakra into his right hand. The air began to swirl as Naruto felt a familiar sensation tickle his hand and fingers. Within moments, the wind began to pick up and a visible ball of wind and chakra was formed in the boy's hand. "Rasengan. My dad's, who happened to be the Fourth Hokage's, very own jutsu. I can only do it in the Nine Tails Chakra Mode because my body is still trying to re-learn everything. I should be able to do it normally after a day or two though."

"I can also do this." Naruto help up the Rasengan and closed his eyes. The orb in his hand began to glow again and grew out 4 large points around the central orb. " _Fuuton: Rasenshuriken._ I managed to complete the jutsu that my dad failed to complete. I can do sage mode too, but I can't do it in while having my Nine Tails Chakra Mode activated."

The old man's eyes widened as he stared at the jutsu in the boy's hand. _Minato... Your son has completed your jutsu at such a young age..._

Naruto deactivated his cloak and the _Rasenshuriken_ and settled down to become his normal self. "Listen _jiji_. I know this is hard to believe, but you need to believe us. We came back in time to prevent war and disaster. Already, we're attempting to prevent some events from playing out so Konoha as a whole becomes strong enough to defend itself from the threats later on."

"Such as?" Sarutobi asked, now drawn in by the idea of time travel.

"Sasuke. In our future, Sasuke defects from the Hidden Leaf and joins Orochimaru in order to gain power to kill his brother. He eventually does kill Itachi, but he also learns from Tobi that his brother was forced to assassinate the leaders of the Uchiha clan. This drives him to destroy the Hidden Leaf and before our final battle, I heard that he was still deciding whether saving the world or destroying the Leaf was more important." Naruto said. "If we can prevent him from becoming a full avenger and teaching him to become powerful here, we might be able to prevent him from leaving Konoha and save him from his desire for vengeance."

The hokage nodded. "I understand where you're coming from, Naruto. So far, you've made little changes in order to nudge Uchiha Sasuke into the right direction... But I'm assuming you're telling me all this because you need my help?"

This time, it was Sakura that started to talk. "Hokage-sama, we definitely need your help. Some of the things we need to do are no small matters and you, as the hokage, may be able to help us."

"I'll like to hear the things you have in mind you two. Please, tell me the things you need currently." Sarutobi motioned for them to continue.

"First off is about Sasuke." Sakura told the leader of the village. "I think he should know the truth... And the whole truth. That his brother was ordered by the Leaf Village to assassinate the coup leaders and that Uchiha Madara killed the rest of the village in cold blood."

Sarutobi remained calm, but the request was a large one. "Isn't it possible that Sasuke will want to avenge his brother and betray Konoha earlier?"

"No, because if we tell him of the truth, he'll want to ask his brother himself about the massacre and the truth behind it. Also, by telling him about Uchiha Madara early on, we'll be able to at least mentally and physically prepare Sasuke for the possible fight ahead. It would be a good idea to have him beside us when we do fight him in the end." Sakura answered. "By showing him the official mission and telling Sasuke that Itachi left on his own free will to protect the village, Sasuke won't betray the village to get stronger. Besides, we're also here for him as his team mate and we'll do our best to make sure that he stays with us."

"I will tell him myself then." Sarutboi replied after thinking. "Anymore requests?"

"We'll need to prepare ourselves for the Chunin Exams." Sakura continued on. "In the future, it was Orochimaru that attacked the Hidden Leaf during the Chunin Exams in order to kill you, Hokage-sama. And also to take Uchiha Sasuke with him. He completed his "Living Corpse Reincarnation" which allows him to transfer his soul to another body. He planned to lure Sasuke in by promising him power and then take over his body when he was ready. He never got to do that in our future, but he did manage to take Sasuke with him with his promises. I believe this time around, we'll be able to prevent Sasuke from leaving. But we should definitely end the Snake Sannin."

"Give me further details later and I'll make a plan accordingly." Lord Third promised. "Anything else?"

Naruto edged in. "Can you get Sakura a job in the hospital? In the future, she's a really talented medic trained by Tsunade herself and I think with enough practice, Sakura will have her past skills faster."

"Naruto! This isn't really the time to ask him that!" Sakura said, but even she hoped in the back of her mind that the hokage would approve.

Lord Third nodded. "That isn't a problem. And Konoha can always use a talented medic."

"Just one more thing for now, Hokage-sama." Sakura asked. "In around 2 weeks, a certain bridge builder named Tazuna will come to Konoha and ask for protection back to his homeland. Please allow us to take that mission, it's an important part of history for Team Seven."

The hokage wrote something down on a notebook and placed it on his desk. "I've wrote that down to remember it. I will talk to Sasuke before the bridge builder mission. Sakura, I will need to talk to you in the future once again along with Naruto to discuss the plan to counter Orochimaru when he invades Konoha during the Chunin Exams."

" _Jiji_."

Sarutobi looked up at the blond ninja. "Yes, Naruto?"

"I'm just not trying to save Sasuke. I'm also trying to save you." Naruto mentioned quietly. "You died during the attack on Konoha. You fought against Orochimaru and the first two Hokage, which Orochimaru brought back with his Impure World Reincarnation jutsu. You sealed the two Hokage, but you died after being stabbed by Orochimaru. We have to take this seriously and prepare for everything in order to prevent your death and Sasuke's defection."

This was an even bigger surprise from Naruto. Sarutobi had never seen the boy look so sad and mature before. If he hadn't known Naruto, he would've assumed that Naruto was a very young and gifted war hardened shinobi. _His face says it all. He's seen losses in battle already..._ Sarutobi as he nodded to the boy.

"Don't worry. With your foreknowledge, Orochimaru won't be able to kill me at all this time." _Or kill me easily._

Naruto nodded and hugged the old man, who hugged him back. "It's good seeing you again after 5 years, _jiji._ "

"To you, it's been 5 years. To me, I saw you just the other day taking your graduation picture."

The two of them laughed at the thought. Naruto and Sakura waved good bye as they both left.

The Third Hokage leaned back on his chair, his mind whirling with all the thoughts going through his head.

 _Looks like I'll be extremely busy for the next few months._

* * *

"You know Sakura, I just realized that I missed _jiji_ a lot." Naruto said as he finally managed to create a Rasengan without the help of the Nine Tails. "Being in the past is pretty weird. You see people you know for a fact that died living and walking around like nothing happened."

"That's because nothing did happen to them, Naruto." Sakura replied. She was doing pushups and the ground vibrated slightly as she pushed herself down. "We're in the past. Anyone that died can still have a chance to live. Think of all the lives that we can save and change. Lord Third, Zabuza, Haku, those annoying Sound Nins, Asuma-sensei, and many more"

Naruto stood up and made dozens of shadow clones to practice the Rasengan and Rasenshuriken, as he was still rusty in both. "Yeah, my brain hurts from everything. Whatever, I guess I'll just figure it out as I go along."

Sakura laughed. Naruto, despite his growth for the past 5 years, was still the same Naruto at heart.

 _And yet you used to hate that Naruto just a few years ago._ Inner Sakura mentioned. _Why are you best friends with him now?_

 _Because_ Sakura answered defiantly. _I learned to look underneath the underneath. Naruto is a loyal and great friend and he's been with me throughout every important moment of my life, even though he was annoying for the first few years I knew him. He also sticks his neck out for people and is completely selfless. I've also changed over the years too._

 _Yet your love for Sasuke-kun never changed._ Inner Sakura mocked. _Even after all Naruto did for you, you cried to Naruto to bring him back and forced him to go chase after your lover for years. Even now, he's still working hard to keep Sasuke in the village. Partially because he is Sasuke's best friend and partially because his promise with you._

 _I didn't force him to do anything!_ Sakura responded. _He made that stupid promise because I was crying._

 _He made that promise for you silly girl. And because he's a stubborn selfless idiot, he's brought the entire weight of Sasuke's return onto his shoulders. Just for you. _

Her train of thought was broken as she heard someone clear their throat behind her. Both Naruto and Sakura turned around to see Sasuke standing behind them.

"I've seen you two train for the past few days now." The last Uchiha approached his teammates. "Lemme train with you two. Maybe I'll learn something useful here and there."

The blond and pink haired ninja smiled to each other. Things were changing already.

* * *

 **AN:** And cut!

I haven't decided whether to add the scene where Sasuke talks to the Hokage or not, please do write it in the comments if you want to see the scene. Otherwise, things will be rather straight forward and will immediately jump into the Wave Arc next chapter, with some other interactions between the members of Team Seven in between.

Till next time :)


	4. Chapter 4

**AN:** It's finals weeks for me, but I have straight A's so I'm not too worried. I'm just grinding out all these chapters as fast as I can. Usually, I write a chapter within a day (takes like 3-4 hours) and then I edit it to the best of my ability. If I don't update for a few days, don't worry. It probably means I'm working on essays for college.

A lot of interesting comments and due to popular request, I will indeed add the scene where Sarutobi talks with Sasuke. And no, I have not yet decided if Sasuke will remain in the village or defect for other reasons. Remember, the future doesn't always change as the way you want to.

 **Mathiasosx:** Why thank you! I won't keep you waiting for that long :)

 **tiffanycr:** Mainly because Sasuke knows that _something_ is up (though he doesn't exactly know what) and do remember that he wants to get stronger. So seeing the two suddenly becoming strong in the matter of days is definitely going to perk Sasuke's interest.

 **KassieJean:** On that note, character development will be included in this chapter and in future chapters also. I just wanted to introduce Naruto and Sakura first and put them in the center, but other characters will notice the differences and will interact with Team Seven. As for Sasuke, he _might_ betray the village or _might not_ betray the village. It will completely depend on how things go.

 **Mexcore:** It will be included in this chapter.

 **spartaleox:** I mean, I really don't want to make it a god-like Naruto when he's 12 story. He'll be powerful, yes. He might even become godlike later on. But for now, he'll mainly have only chunks of the power he had during the fight with the Ten Tails.

 **Cao510:** No problem! Kurama is an interesting character and will be in Naruto's life everyday (well, he kinda has to). Squad 7 will still have their respective Sannin teachers except Sasuke. Though, I do plan on having Kakashi training them better this time around.

 **thedarkpokemaster:** Thanks! I just wanted to try and make the bell test a bit unique and not make it like "Naruto and Sakura screws Kakashi over while Sasuke over, the end." I wanted to add some realism into it and to have Team Seven all work together for the bell. In the end, I decided that what I wrote was the best. If you have any ideas, feel free to message me!

 **.1010:** Yes, Sasuke is indeed beginning to sense that something isn't right. After all, it isn't everyday that the fan girl and Dead Last suddenly becomes on par with a jounin (or at least a jounin that was messing around). Well, I mean, the physical cloak isn't something that Naruto needs to really train for. Since he has Kurama's cooperation, he can use the cloak pretty freely. He does have limitations, as his physical body isn't very strong, but that will be overcome with training. I'll keep you tuned so keep on reading :)

 **The G'ddam Dark** **Knight:** I was going to include the plan to counter Orochimaru at the Chunin Exams, but I felt like that would've dragged on and made the chapter boring and cluttered. The plans for the attack will be mentioned briefly in summary later on.

 **Hoguie:** I'm surprised you actually caught that! If you read in the manga, Naruto only discovers that Sage Mode and Tailed Beast Cloak can get together when the four revived Hokage arrive to help them out against Ten Tails. Since he was transported in time before that, he hasn't realized that _yet_.

 **Kasharo:** I think it can go both ways. If he is told before the mission, he could see his teammates in a much more favorable light as not obstacles, but as comrades that could potentially help him later on.

 **HjLostDreams:** I plan to have him use some other wind jutsu, along with possibly fire and water later on. I felt it was too repetitive that all he used was Rasengan and I'm sure there were plenty of other moves that were just as powerful, if not more powerful, than the Rasengan. He'll still use the Nine Tails Cloak, Rasengan, and the Shadow Clones, but I'll add more diversity into it.

For now, Naruto and Sakura are focusing on Team Seven first. Naruto will indeed reach out to the other teams earlier, but for now, he'll focus on making sure Sasuke defects (which might or might not happen).

That will depend as the story goes on :).

I mean. There will be plenty of ninja and I'll try to widen the scope of the amount of ninjas if I can.

And yes. Naruto will kill if a character is beyond redemption later on.

 **Guest:** Don't worry. Haku and Zabuza _won't_ join the village. But they will still remain alive and be part of the story.

 **Guest007:** I'm not exactly against the idea actually. But I'm not exactly sure if Sakura can even learn the Rasengan due to her small chakra storage.

Now onto the story:

* * *

"Come in."

The doors of the Hokage's office opened and one single Uchiha walked through the doors. Sasuke's face was impassive as he stood in front of the Hokage's desk. Sarutobi returned the exact same facial expression, but deep inside he was conflicted. Would Naruto's suggestion actually work and convince the Uchiha to stay and help them?

"Uchiha Sasuke." Lord Third greeted the young boy. "Thank you for coming today."

With a small nod, the Genin returned the greeting. "Hokage."

"Now you may be wondering while I have placed a silencing seal over the room and had my ANBU leave me alone with you." Sarutobi said. "It is because anything I tell you right now will be classified as an S-Rank secret."

After it became obvious that he had caught the Uchiha's attention, the Third Hokage continued. "It is about your brother, Uchiha Itachi."

"...And what of my brother, Hokage? Have you discovered where he is hiding? Will you send me to chase after him?" Sasuke questioned the Hokage.

Shaking his head, the old man silenced the young ninja. "I do have a general idea of where he is, thanks to our spy network. However, you are far too young to go chase after your brother alone. That is not why I called you here though. I'm talking about your brother's role in the Uchiha Massacre."

For a brief moment, Sasuke had a flashback to that fateful day. Bodies upon bodies as he was walking home, hoping to find his brother and parents alive. Only to find his brother standing above their parent's corpses. "I was already aware that he murdered my clan, Hokage."

"Hokage-sama." Sarutobi corrected. "Indeed, he did kill members of the Uchiha that day... But not all of them."

"Are you saying that there are other members of the Uchiha clan that are alive?" Sasuke said suddenly. His feelings were mixed from saying those words. On one hand, he wanted to find other survivors, those that were members of his clan and blood. On the other hand, he had a strong liking to being the "Last Uchiha" other than Itachi.

The Hokage shook his head again. "That is not what I meant, Sasuke. I meant that he did not kill the entire clan that night."

"What do you mean, Hokage?" Sasuke nearly shouted at the leader of the Leaf in front of him. "He said it himself that night that he murdered everyone in the Uchiha clan! I saw it myself! He killed ou. _.. my_ parents. To increase his power and test his skill!"

"It is a shocking revelation, I know. But I would like for you to take a look at this file." The Hokage pushed a thin file towards the young Uchiha.

Sasuke grabbed it without hesitation and opened the file. Inside was a single sheet of paper, with the title "Assassination Order."

The paper described the targets for the assassination, which included Uchiha Fugaku, his father, and several other leaders of the Uchiha clan. But nowhere on the sheet of paper did it say to commit genocide upon the Uchiha clan.

"This... This can't be right!" Sasuke yelled at the old man. "The entire clan died and he was the only one alive! There is no way that he is innocent! If it wasn't him, who was it?"

Sarutobi grimaced. "That night, after he came back, he told me the truth of what happened. There was another Uchiha who assisted him, who went by the name of Uchiha Madara."

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Uchiha Madara... But he lived during the times of the First Hokage and died fighting him!"

"At first, I couldn't believe it also. However, I had no other explanation of how the entire Uchiha clan, filled with talented ninjas that consisted of many jounins and chunins, could be easily defeated by one single person. Only a ninja of great skill and power, and perhaps extensive knowledge of the Sharingan, could possibly have defeated everyone in the clan. Itachi was a talented ninja, but not even he was that powerful at the time." Sarutboi replied.

There was a spark in Sasuke's eyes as Sarutobi watched the boy silently. Finally, the Uchiha spoke. "Tell me everything that happened that night, Hokage."

At this point, Sarutobi decided to let go with the honorifics. "Your father and several other leaders of the Uchiha clan were planning a coup against the Hidden Leaf. At the time, the Hidden Leaf was still unstable and weary from the war. If the coup succeeded, it would've meant the end of the village and the beginning of military rule. If it failed, it would've meant that the Hidden Leaf would enter a state of civil war between the village and the Uchiha clan. We learned of the coup ahead of time thanks to your brother, but unfortunately, they began to hide information from him due to his relative close relationship with myself. Weary that Itachi might be a traitor, the Uchiha began to plan something behind our backs, but we had no idea what it was. Despite this, I continued to extend my arm in friendship and sought a way to end this conflict without violence, though it was incredibly difficult at first. However, I was well aware that should the time come, I would protect the village and prevent the coup from succeeding."

"I did not know that Danzo had other plans. Danzo, one of my old friends who is a member of the council, believed that anything he did was good because he did it for the village. He was also the head of ROOT, which is a secret organization that carries out the darker parts of the Leaf's activities. At the time, Danzo was afraid that the Uchiha clan would rebel and the incident with the Nine Tails made him believe that the Uchiha clan was planning something much more sinister against the village. So he decided to end the Uchiha clan once and for all. I disagreed with his reasoning and believed that the Uchiha clan could redeem itself, since my mentors and my successor, the Fourth, also believed that reconciliation was possible. I managed to block him from assassinating the entire clan, but even I had to admit that the leaders of the coup had to die quickly and silently in order to prevent war between the village and the clan. Itachi was only ordered to assassinate several of the highest ranking members of the Uchiha clan, not everyone."

The Hokage sighed and continued. "It was before he entered the compound that Itachi encountered Uchiha Madara. It seems like Madara wanted to destroy his own clan because the Uchiha clan betrayed him in the past and if he destroyed the Uchiha clan, it would've weakened Konoha. His reasoning was that if all the members of the Uchiha were dead, the secrets of the Sharingan would stay safe and he would have no problem invading the Hidden Leaf for his revenge. So on that night, he made an offer to Itachi. Either he killed the entire Uchiha clan by himself, including you, or Itachi carried out his mission while Madara killed everyone else, sparing you in the process, and making it look like Itachi did it. Your brother took the latter option and took all the blame himself."

"No... That isn't possible! That man is a murderer! He killed my parents in front of my _own eyes._ " Sasuke's usual calm composure was broken.

"Your brother is currently in a terrorist organization called Akatsuki for a reason, to keep an eye on them and prevent them from attacking the Hidden Leaf. After he took the blame of the Uchiha Massacre, he believed that his background would allow him to join the Akatsuki, in which he did. He still sends us secret messages and notes to allow us to track Akatsuki's movement." Sarutobi said. "Your brother should be considered a hero of Konoha. Yet, he has left the village and took the blame all for you, Sasuke. And do remember that your parents were indeed involved in planning the coup."

Sasuke began to visibly shake as his fists clenched into a tight ball. "So he isn't really a mass murderer. He did everything up to this point to protect me..."

"And to make sure that you get stronger by seeking revenge. That was his goal all along. He wants you to grow stronger quickly by seeking vengeance and killing him in the end. That way, you'll be able to be strong enough to defend yourself from powerful enemies all on your own." The Hokage answered.

"I...I." When Sasuke raised his eyes, the eyes were flashing red with a single tomoe in each eye.

The Hokage's eyebrows arched as he saw the familiar sight. "It seems like you have activated your Sharingan, Sasuke."

The young Uchiha blinked. "I have?"

"The Sharingan only activates through strong negative emotions or positive emotions. I can sense that you have both negative and positive emotions echoing inside you." Sarutobi told Sasuke. "I'm assuming that you are stressed and confused about your brother, but at the same time you want to protect him and bring him back."

There was no answer from the raven haired boy as he stared at the ground, his eyes fixated on his sandals. For the first time in a long time, the younger brother of Itachi showed visible confusion. "How do I know if this isn't an elaborate lie?"

Sarutobi knew that the answer was probably not the best one, but the only possible one. "You have only one way to discover the truth then."

Seeing the boy's expression confirmed that Sasuke knew the answer.

"I will leave you to your thoughts, Sasuke." Lord Third dropped the silencing seal. "I hope you make the right choices."

* * *

As Sasuke left the Hokage's office, his mind had millions of thoughts running through it. He didn't care if people stared at him now that his eyes were glowing red with the Sharingan. In fact, he didn't even care about the Sharingan at the moment. The only thing in his mind was the thought of his brother, the man who he used to love and then hate with all his heart.

He walked home, ignoring anyone that attempted to greet him. He was well known and well respected by nearly everyone in the village, as his status as the last Uchiha invoked pity and remorse from the village. Usually he ignored the special treatment, but today was even more so. He rushed home in record time and sat in the middle of the living room of his house as he recalled everything that he was told.

A sharp pain in his head came out of nowhere as he gritted his teeth to fight back against the pain. The pain receded almost immediately, but awakened some flashbacks that Sasuke had repressed for years.

* * *

 _A 7 year old Uchiha Sasuke stared at his brother with hatred in his eyes, his Sharingan activated. He was badly wounded and was barely sitting straight on the ground._

 _Standing over him was his older brother, Uchiha Itachi stared at his brother with the Sharingan also activated in his eyes. He stared at his younger brother in silence as Sasuke's ragged breathing became louder._

 _"I HATE YOU!" Sasuke screamed at his older brother. He chucked a kunai at the traitor's head, only for the kunai to slash the Konoha headband he was wearing. There was now an evident slash in the middle of the Leaf symbol._

 _Itachi looked surprised as he adjusted his headband, but he began to turn away from the young boy who now collapsed onto the ground. Sasuke looked up at his older brother for the last time as his mind drifted off into unconsciousness._

 _The other half of the last Uchiha looked back, with genuine tears rolling down the side of his face. His red eyes seemed to glow in the moonlight._

 _"Be stronger brother. And come kill me." Itachi whispered. A single tear splashed onto the ground as the teenage boy walked away._

 _Sasuke passed out from exhaustion and shock, but even he did not miss those last moments._

* * *

"A murderer would never cry for the people he had just killed." Sasuke mumbled.

Was the Hokage right? Was Itachi really just trying to protect him? Was it possible that his brother wasn't actually a villain, but a victim?

He mulled over the interesting things he learned about the Uchiha Massacre today. If the Hokage was actually speaking the truth, his goal wasn't to kill his brother. No, if anything, he had to help his brother and avenge his clan by killing Madara. He was still confused and anxious, but the last words from the Hokage rang in his mind.

 _You have only one way to discover the truth then._

The only person who could correctly tell him the events of that night was Uchiha Itachi himself. And that meant that he couldn't just attack or kill his brother if he saw him in the future.

Sasuke glanced over at mirror nearby and activated his Sharingan. He realized that he activated the Sharingan all those years ago, when he saw his mother and father dead and his brother standing over their bodies as if he felt nothing. For the first time in years, Sasuke felt tears welling in his eyes, his thoughts shifting against to another flashback.

* * *

 _"Hey dobe." Sasuke muttered to the yellow haired ninja. "When the hell did you get so strong? You were the Dead Last up until graduation and now you're strong. Same with you, Sakura."_

 _He didn't mention that he saw Naruto's powerful wind jutsu that created a swirling orb in his hands. He didn't want his teammates knowing that he spied on them._

 _Naruto grinned. "I've been training hard and I never wanted to reveal how strong I really was. Same with Sakura. We just didn't want to show off and wanted to prepare ourselves the best we could before we became actual Genin."_

 _Sasuke noticed that both Naruto and Sakura gave each other a brief glance at each other, as if they were hiding an elaborate secret. "I could probably still take you down, dobe. But I will admit, you're not as weak as I thought you were."_

 _"Try it teme." Naruto challenged. "I bet I can kick your Uchiha ass."_

 _The raven haired boy only smirked, but deep inside, even he began to realize that it was entirely possible that Naruto was possibly equal to him in terms of skill. "Maybe in the future after you and I both train more, dobe."_

 _All three of them did their own little training, but regardless, all three of them were together. Training._

* * *

Sasuke made a decision that day. He would train to become stronger. Not for revenge or to kill. But to get better in order to face his brother one day and learn the truth. And, as a secondary goal, to become stronger than Naruto.

 _"What's gonna happen after you kill him?"_

Maybe the idiot had a point. What _was_ he going to do after he killed his brother? He could revive his clan, but it was such a lofty goal. No, he would become stronger to beat his brother in battle and drag him home, to discover the truth and to have some _assistance_ in making sure that the Uchiha clan survived. In order to do that, he would train with Naruto and Sakura to gain strength and have some useful allies at his side.

 _Keep your bonds strong and **never** abandon your comrades._

He smirked at Kakashi's warning. He wouldn't abandon them... Just yet.

* * *

Team 7 was sitting eating mountain loads of meat at Yakiniku Q Barbecue. They had just completed their 12th mission and was celebrating their accomplishment by eating some good barbecue.

"This team is probably the fastest team to finish 12 missions." Kakashi said, waving his chopstick. "I've never seen anyone finish 12 D-rank missions within a week after their promotion to Genin. You three are truly legendary."

"I would rather finish these missions quickly and do something more exciting. I mean, babysitting, pulling out weeds, and painting walls are good for pay, but they're not exactly too hard for a ninja." Naruto replied with his mouthful as he shoved some more meat into his mouth. Ever since Sakura had forced him away from the ramen stand, he had found a liking for the unique barbecue offered at Yakiniku.

Sakura and Sasuke both nodded in agreement. The D-ranked missions were far too easy and not challenging. Sakura spoke up after she finished eating a bowl of rice, completely disregarding her past's self's obsession with dieting. "Can we go pick up another mission today? I think it's time for us to have a slightly harder mission. Maybe we can ask the Hokage to give us a C-rank mission since we've done so well with D-rank."

Kakashi rubbed his chin. "I mean, if he doesn't object, I have no objections either. Your skills are very refined for mere Genin. I've seen all three of you train hard after you completed your missions and Sakura even has an apprenticeship in the hospital to become a medic-nin. I must say, all of you are probably ready to become a Chunin in the near future at this rate."

All three of them brightened up at hearing that and even Sasuke let out a small smile. The team had definitely improved in a week of hard training. Sasuke had his Sharingan, so he was training with Kakashi and increasing his speed and strength to boost his reaction time. Naruto had relearned the Rasengan and chakra control, though he decided to keep that Rasengan part a secret from everyone but the Hokage and Sakura. Sakura had improved her medical abilities at the hospital and increased her stamina and strength.

While the three were still in the middle of eating (with Sakura and Naruto having a friendly competition of eating meat while Sasuke watched with a smirk), Team 10 walked in with their jounin instructor Sarutobi Asuma.

"Hey Shikamaru! Choji! Ino!" Naruto said with his mouthful. "Wanna join us? Kakashi-sensei is paying so we're eating tons today!"

Choji's eyes instantly lit up and crashed down onto the free seat next to Naruto. He snatched some of the meat off Naruto's own plate and began inhaling the barbecue left on the grill. Shikamaru sighed as he sat next to Sasuke, while Ino also dove into the seat next to Sasuke and began to hug his arm, to Sasuke's disdain.

"Sasuke-kun." Ino pouted. "I feel so bad for you. You have Forehead on your team that must be constantly annoying you, right?"

Sasuke scoffed. "If anything, she hates me."

Ino's eyes narrowed. "What?"

"Well, she does clobber both of us in the back of the head if we fight too much." Naruto mumbled, his hands reflexively blocking the back of his head. "You would think that a girl wouldn't hit so hard, especially since she's short and..."

"Did you have something to say Naruto?" Sakura said sweetly with her first coming gradually closer to Naruto's face.

The blond male ninja instantly retreated his comment. "I didn't say anything!"

"Oh so you gave up on Sasuke-kun cause you know you couldn't get him? You actually did something smart... For once." Ino smiled. "Are you going for Naruto now? I mean, I guess he looks cuter with his new haircut and clothes, but even he can't compete against Sasuke..."

Sakura turned as pink as her hair and looked flustered. "NO, I would never. I wouldn't go for a stupid _baka_ like him!" She made her point as she smashed her fist into the unsuspecting Naruto right in the chin. He shot straight up into the ceiling and groaned.

Realizing what she had done, she pulled Naruto down, who had few objections and was used to everything that Sakura threw at him. Sakura only threw a glare at Ino, who smiled mischievously at her rival.

"Hey Ino." Sakura stared directly at the blond haired girl and pulled her closer so the others couldn't hear. "Since I gave up on my chase for Sasuke, how about we make a truce and be friends again?"

Ino looked at her, but her expression didn't exactly wasn't an expression of rejection. "Well... I wouldn't mind since you're not going after _my_ Sasuke-kun anymore."

"So truce?" Sakura extended her hand.

"Truce." Ino nodded. "I want to make a bet with you though Forehead."

"What bet?"

Ino gave her a snark grin. "I bet that I can snag Sasuke before you can snag Naruto."

Sakura became flustered again. "INO!"

While the two girls were busy bickering, Shikamaru was casually talking to Naruto.

"So Naruto, you really changed your style. I didn't say anything until now because I was busy with this team." Shikamaru lazily waved to his two teammates. Choji was too busy eating and Ino was talking with Sakura. "What made you change so much in like, a day?'

Naruto gulped. He knew that he had to be careful around the Nara, as the lazy ninja was a genius. "I, uh, decided to change up my looks since I became a ninja! My outfit looks way cooler, right? After all, orange is a cool color, but it stands out too much."

Fortunately, it seemed like Shikamaru bought it as the boy shrugged as he didn't give it a second thought. "I guess you do look better. Your team must be doing well, heard you guys set the record for the most missions completed in a week for Genin."

"It was nothing, really." Naruto replied. "We're gonna head over to the Hokage later today and ask him for a harder mission. These D-rank missions are too easy for us."

"Yeah well, it's fine for me. If anything, these missions are too much work." Shikamaru said.

Choji barged in out of nowhere. "He says that it's too much work, but we do all the work while he sits in the shade and stares at the clouds."

"Staring at clouds is a lot of work. It requires a lot of concentration." Shikamaru claimed.

"Is it?" Naruto asked. "That seems really... Boring."

Shikamaru shrugged again. "Try it sometimes. It's really relaxing."

Just then, an ANBU agent jumped through the window and landed near Kakashi. "Lord Third requests your presence in his office immediately. He said to bring your team with you as well."

Kakashi nodded. "Alright my pupils, lets head out. Asuma, I'll leave the bills up to you."

Team 7 and their leader ran out the door faster than Chouji could inhale a plate full of barbecue as they fled the site before Asuma could object.

The waiter tapped the jounin of Team 10 on the shoulder with the check. When Asuma saw the amount he had to pay, he fainted, which unfortunately gave time for the members of Team 10 to eat several more rounds of barbecue.

* * *

"I have been very impressed of your current works so far, Team Seven." Sarutobi said as he smiled at the three young Genin and their leader. "The reason why I called you in here today is because Naruto had complained that the missions given to your team were far too easy and begged for a harder mission. Seeing that Team 7 has set the record for the most D-ranked missions in a single week by a new Genin team, I have decided to give you a slightly harder mission."

Nartuo grinned, it was the mission he had been waiting for. "And what mission is that, _jiji_?"

"It's a mission to protect a certain individual." The Third Hokage announced. "Hey, can you come in here?"

The doors to the Hokage's office opened to reveal a drunken old man with a sake bottle in his hand.

"What's this?" The man said, his words slightly slurred. "They are all a bunch of super brats. Especially the shortest one with the stupid looking face. Are you all really ninjas?"

"A drunken old man?" Naruto turned to the Hokage, with a glint of happiness in his eyes. "Does he need to be escorted back to his home?"

"No." The drunken old man replied for the Hokage. "I am the super expert bridge builder Tazuna. I expect you to provide me super protection until I get back to my country and complete the bridge."

The Hokage nodded. "Team 7, you are to head out tomorrow at the break of dawn and make your way to the Wave Country and stay there till the bridge builder finishes the bridge that he had been constructing. You may face some criminals and bandits, but nothing that a shinobi can't handle. Kakashi, I leave the safety of everyone in the group up to you."

"Understood, Lord Third." Kakashi answered. "Come all of you, let's go."

* * *

"What are you doing Naruto?" Sakura asked the blond ninja lying down on the roof.

Naruto turned to towards her. "Staring at the sky, obviously. I'm trying to concentrate and look at clouds like what Shikamaru said."

Sakura stared at him. "Where is Naruto and what have you done with him? The Nartuo I know can't lay down and stay still for longer than 3 minutes."

"I don't know, Shikamaru was right. This _is_ pretty relaxing. Just staring at the cloud and forgetting about all my worries for a few minutes really helps." Naruto closed his eyes for a moment, feeling the breeze in the air.

"Can I join you?" Sakura asked.

The blonde looked surprised. "Sure. Don't you have to go to the hospital today to help out the staff there?"

"No, not today. I told them I had a mission tomorrow and they gave me the day off." The pink haired ninja replied as she laid down next to her teammate. She stared at the cloud with her partner and sighed. "This is pretty relaxing, you weren't lying Naruto."

He pointed towards a set of clouds. "Doesn't that look like Kakashi sensei? It even looks like there's a mask on that face!"

Sakura squinted at the clouds. "More like a cat actually."

"Are you saying that Kakashi sensei looks like a cat?" Naruto teased. "Maybe I'll tell sensei that."

A disturbing image of Kakashi as a kitten ran through Sakura's mind. She punched the blond boy squarely in the back of his head. "Don't you _dare_ tell him anything or mention that ever again."

Naruto twisted and pulled his head out of the hole in the ground (or roof). "Geez, it's a miracle that I didn't die or lose all my brain cells from your punches in the future."

"You'll get more used to it this time around, because I'll punch harder." Sakura said with a sly grin. "And Sasuke too. He won't escape my punches."

There was a small silence between them as they stared at the sky once again. After a few moments, Naruto turned to Sakura. "Hey Sakura. Do you think changing the past is really a good thing?"

"What do you mean Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"I mean, if we change something in the past, it'll change something in the future, right?" Naruto smoothed the wrinkles on his clothes. "So what if we change something right now, thinking it's good, only to find out later that we made things worse than before?"

"Like how, Naruto? We've lived through this once already and knew the mistakes that we made. Our new decisions can't make things any worse, can it?"

Naruto scratched his head. "I don't know. I feel like if we change the past too much, we'll be unable to predict the future and make things worse. Maybe it's just a weird gut feeling."

"Or maybe it's because you're hungry." Sakura pouted. She immediately became serious. "Honestly Naruto, I don't know either. Once we change the past enough, we'll be unable to know what happens in the future. But we have to make the risk and prevent the war from ever happening. Some things might end up worse, but we can't do everything perfectly and in the end, we're trying to do it for the greater good of the world."

The pink haired ninja avoided Naruto gaze as he stared at her. "Geez, I'm not good with giving inspirational speeches. That's your job Naruto, not mine."

Naruto laughed. "You're right. Maybe I'm just worrying too much. Thanks Sakura, you're the best. I'm glad I have you by my side."

Sakura's cheeks slightly turned pink, but Naruto didn't notice as he stared at the sky once again, lazily watching the clouds drift by.

* * *

"You're late again, Kakashi sensei."

It was 10 in the morning and Team Seven and the bridge builder was finally all gathered at the gates. They had planned to leave at 8, but the silver haired jounin had shown up late once again.

Kakashi didn't look fazed at all as he smiled at the others. "Sorry, there was this sweet old lady who needed help crossing the street so I decided to help her. Afterwards, she made me go grocery shopping for her and clean her house."

Team 7 groaned as Tazuna stared at the ninja. "Are you sure this guy is a strong ninja? Doesn't seem like it to me."

"Trust me, he's one of the strongest ninjas in our village." Sakura said cheerfully. "Now that we're all here, let's head out!"

The three Genin, jounin, and bridge builder began their trek towards the Wave Country. Little did they know that they were already being watched by two ninjas in the forest...

* * *

"Tazuna-san, does the Wave Country have shinobi like the Leaf?" Sakura asked the old bridge builder.

He shook his head. "No, there are no ninjas in the Wave Country. That's why we have to hire brats like you."

Kakashi cleared his throat. "The Wave Country doesn't have any ninjas, unlike most villages. Most countries have shinobi villages as a sign of military power, such as the Five Great Villages that includes the Hidden Leaf, Hidden Mist, Hidden Cloud, Hidden Sand, and Hidden Rock. However, small countries like the Wave Country don't exactly need a shinobi village or even shinobis because they are rather isolated and small. So we shouldn't be facing any ninjas in this C-rank mission, only regular bandits or thieves that we can easily dispatch."

Right as he said this, the group walked passed a puddle that was on the side of the road. Kakashi gave the puddle a small glance before walking away from it, while both Naruto and Sakura braced themselves.

As soon as the two heard a sound, the duo turned around and threw their kunai at the incoming ninjas. As the enemy was distracted by blocking the kunai, Sakura and Naruto launched themselves as fast they could towards the two ninjas. Sakura caught the first one with a punch squarely in the other ninja's chest while Naruto used multiple shadow clones to rip off the other ninja's chains and wrap it around him. Within 30 seconds, the two ninjas had been captured cleanly without any injuries as Naruto gave Sakura a fist bump for capturing the two.

Kakashi looked surprised, as he wanted to pretend that he died to freak his team out. "You both did well, Sakura and Naruto. Though do tell me how you knew you were going to be attacked."

Sakura nodded. "There shouldn't be a puddle on the side of the road since it's a sunny day and it hasn't rained in over a week. Obviously, it was either someone spilled enough water to make a puddle or it was an enemy nin that was waiting to ambush us. It could've been the former, but I made sure that we were prepared for the latter."

The silver haired jounin stared at his two pupils. Naruto and Sakura both looked very calm and hadn't broke a sweat tackling the two ninjas. And judging from the enemy's movement, he could tell that the enemy nins were at least Chunnin level ninjas. "I'm quite impressed. But then again, you two have been surprising me a lot lately."

Sasuke only let out a small "Tsk." Everything happened in a flash and although he managed to track the enemy's movement with his Sharingan, he had decided to stick close to the bridge builder instead and left his teammates to beat up the enemy ninjas. Although he would've liked to join in on the action, he knew that his teammates would've dealt with the enemy nins long before he could do anything.

"I wanted to see who the target was before we captured them, but I guess I have no choice but the question them." Kakashi turned to the two captured ninjas. "Who were you attempting to kill?"

For a moment, no answers came from the ninjas. It seemed as if they wouldn't answer till both of them stared at the bridge builder.

At this, Kakashi turned towards Tazuna. "I thought you said you only needed protection from gang members and thieves, not shinobis from other villages."

"This has now turned into a B-rank mission. This was supposed to be a simple protection mission until you completed your bridge." Kakashi continued. "If it was known that ninjas were after you, this mission would've been an expensive B-rank mission. I'm sure you have a reason, but it complicates things if you lie about the mission details."

Naruto stepped in first to speak. "We shouldn't quite now, sensei. We might be mere Genin, but we can still take on enemy nins. It won't be easy, but I think our team is ready to take on the challenge. And with Kakashi sensei leading us, this mission won't be impossible."

"Before we do anything rash, I want to hear why there are ninjas after you." Kakashi turned to Tazuna. "Who is sending these ninjas to kill you?"

Tazuna looked glum. "The wealthy shipping magnate Gatou."

"You mean the head of Gatou Company, the millionaire?" Kakashi questioned.

The bridge builder nodded. "Yes, that's the one. Officially, he runs a large shipping company. But in reality, he sells drugs and other illegal items using ninjas and gang members to take over businesses and countries... He's a very nasty man. Using his power and influence, he took over the Wave Country's shipping industry and now has a monopoly on the country's business and trade. That is why he wants to kill me, because the bridge will allow people to reach the continent without relying on Gatou's shipping industry."

"I understand." Kakashi said. He turned to the three members of Team 7. "It is your choice if you want to continue on. I will leave the decision up to you three."

Naruto gave Kakashi a thumbs up. "I'm in. The Wave Country needs our help, we can't turn our backs on them now." _And I want to see that little brat again._

"I also agree with Naruto. If anyone can complete this mission, it's us." Sakura concurred.

All eyes turned to Sasuke, who nodded his head. "If those two are going, then I'll go also. Besides, I might be able to fight some enemy ninjas for once."

"That settles it then!" Kakashi clapped his hands. "Let's continue on to the Wave Country... Shall we?"

* * *

A snow white rabbit hopped on by next to the group as they began to walk towards Tazuna's village.

Kakashi, Sakura, and Naruto had the same thought running through their minds. _They're already here._

"Everyone get down!" Kakashi yelled. Naruto and Sakura instantly reacted by pushing Tazuna down onto the ground while Sasuke also did the same.

A sword harmlessly boomeranged over everyone's head and went back into the hands of a single ninja awaiting next to a tree.

"Well well. If it isn't the Hidden Mist's missing nin Momochi Zabuza-kun." Kakashi said.

Naruto gaped, pretending to be surprised. "You mean the missing nin in the bingo books? His bounty is worth over 15 million ryo!"

"You know about him, Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

The blonde nodded. "He's a dangerous ninja, one of the Seven Swordsman of the Hidden Mist. His nickname is the Demon of the Hidden Mist because he massacred a hundred of his classmates during his time at the Academy. That sword he's wielding right now is called the Kubikiribocho, the "Indestructible Sword," because it can absorb the blood of the enemy and use the iron in the blood to fix itself. He's also incredibly good at using water jutsu."

"Impressive. So your little student already knows much about me." Zabuza said as he placed his sword on his shoulder. "You must be Sharingan Kakashi. This just got a whole lot more interesting."

"Stay back and protect the bridge builder." Kakashi ordered his pupils. "This ninja is on a whole different level from you three, like what Naruto said. I'll handle this."

He pulled back his headband to reveal his Sharingan, which had three tomoes in it. Zabuza gleamed at seeing the eye. "So, the famed Sharingan is going to be used against me. I'm honored. I already know much about you also. When I was part of the Hidden Mist's assassin team, I kept a handbook that included information about you. The ninja who has copied over a thousand jutsu... "Copy Ninja Kakashi.""

Zabuza swung his sword menacingly and grinned. "But enough talk. Time for me to kill that old bridge builder."

He disappeared in a flash as Team Seven immediately sprung into action and surrounded Tazuna.

"There!" Naruto pointed at the top of the water.

But it was already too late, Zabuza went through his hand seals and lifted one finger. " _Ninpou: Hidden Mist no Jutsu."_

"Be careful and surround the bridge builder." Kakashi said as he glanced over at his team. The mist was thickening and he needed to concentrate. "Zabuza is an expert assassin, so he'll come after me first. But make sure that our client is safe."

Team 7 nodded and immediately took up position to surround the man. As the mist grew thicker, a voice whispered through the mist.

"8 choices." The voice said. "Liver, lungs, spine, clevical vein, neck vein, brain, kidneys, hearts. Which one should I go after?"

Kakashi turned back to his team and smiled. "Don't worry you three... Even if it kills me, I'll never let my comrades die."

* * *

"Now I have you in an inescapable prison!" Zabuza said with a small laugh. A second Zabuza stood in front of him, a water clone of the original"

"Run! All of you! You can't face him!" Kakashi yelled through the prison. "Remember your mission! Take the bridge builder and run! The water clone can't stray far away from the original!"

Naruto and Sakura had allowed this to happen so far because they still needed to see Haku. And Haku wouldn't come out unless Zabuza was on the verge of death. When Kakashi was captured in the prison, that was when Team 7 reacted.

"Hey Tazuna-san." Naruto asked innocently. "Do you mind if we attempt to rescue our sensei? I think I have a plan."

Tazuna hesitated, but shook his head. "No, he's after me anyways. It's only fair if you try to rescue your sensei since he's held captive cause of me."

"Sakura, take care of the bridge builder." Naruto said as he stepped forward. He nodded towards Sasuke, who also came with him. "Sasuke and I will deal with this bastard."

Sasuke activated his Sharingan and turned to his blond teammate. "So what's the plan, _dobe_?"

"As long as he has that hand on the water prison, Kakashi-sensei can't escape." Naruto told the Uchiha. "Our goal is to get pass this water clone and force Zabuza to take his hand off the prison. From there, we can have Kakashi do the rest."

"I'll go in first, _teme_. He'll definitely be faster than me, so he'll knock me back. From there, while you have an opening, strike as hard as you can and keep him distracted. Go all out since that one in front is a water clone. From there, I'll attack the water clone and keep him distracted when I also see an opening. When I do, attack the original with a kunai or one of your jutsu, got it?"

"Sure." Sasuke answered. "I'll manage to hold him back a bit with my Sharingan, but after that I'm relying on you _dobe._ "

Naruto grinned. "Let's do it, _teme._ "

The blond ninja immediately brought up his hands to perform a jutsu. " _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_!"

Immediately, two clones popped out and charged the water clone. "Don't worry sensei! We're coming for you!"

Kakashi groaned. _That idiot._

All three Narutos rushed at the water clone and was immediately smashed back, with two of them dispersing after the hit. The original laid on the ground, knocked out.

Sasuke smirked as he rushed forward, not worried about Naruto. _That idiot probably has a plan. He always does_.

Using his Sharingan, he was able to predict the next strike and dodged it. Sasuke threw several shurikens at the water clone, which deflected the attack easily. But Sasuke was already forming the hand seals for another jutsu in the mean time.

" _Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique)!"_

The Zabuza clone scoffed. "You're using a fire jutsu against a water user like me? Foolish."

" _Suiton: Mizurappa (Water Release: Wild Water Wave)_!"

A wave of water shot out of Zabuza's mouth as he sprayed away the small fire balls with ease. However, as soon as he did, several shurikens that were hiding within the fireballs whistled toward him.

He used his sword to deflect them all and grinned at the Uchiha. "A Sharingan user... So you must be a Uchiha. Pity that you're still too weak to fight me."

Suddenly, several hands shot out of the ground and grabbed the water clone by the feet. "Surprise? _"_

The Zabuza clone began to sink into the ground as Sasuke rushed forward towards the real Zabuza without hesitation. " _Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"_

A powerful fire ball immediately began to fly towards the real Zabuza, who had no choice but to jump up and dodge the attack. Kakashi instantly broke free and ran back towards the others. The water clone was dispersed as Naruto shot out of the hole and grinned.

"Quite clever of you, Naruto." Kakashi mentioned. "Creating the clones so you can have a clone pretend to be you fainted while you dug underground and struck the enemy while he was distracted. All the while Sasuke kept the clone distracted for a short bit with this Sharingan and Fire jutsu. I'm not sure how you used my Earth jutsu perfectly, but I won't question that now. Both of you have improved."

The fainted Naruto clone dispersed as the real Naruto grinned. "I told you sensei, we got this."

Sasuke also gave a little smirk as Sakura smiled. Kakashi rubbed the back of his head again. "Well... Looks like I have to finish the job then."

* * *

Team Seven and the bridge builder gaped as Zabuza fell forward with several senbons in his neck. Naruto instantly looked up to the trees to see a familiar sight waiting on the branches.

 _Haku._ Naruto thought as he watched the ninja disguised as a hunter-nin approach them.

"Thank you very much." The hunter nin aka Haku said. "I have been searching for the opportunity to kill Zabuza for a long time..."

Kakashi didn't look fazed at all. "That mask. I'm assuming you're a hunter nin from the Hidden Mist?"

"Impressive. That is correct." The masked nin replied. "It is my duty to hunt down missing nins of the Hidden Mist and Zabuza was one of them."

The ninja jumped down and grabbed the body. "Now I must dispose of the body since it hides many secrets. Farewell."

The body and the hunter nin disappeared into the air right as Kakashi collapsed.

"Let's head back to my house. You guys can relax and recover from there." Tazuna said, tipping his hat.

* * *

At Tazuna's house, Kakashi was laying on the floor while Team Seven and Tazuna sat around him.

"So you want us to train more, sensei?" Sakura asked the jounin.

Kakashi nodded. "All three of you are quite powerful. I would even dare to say that all three of you have the abilities and intelligence to become a chunin at the least. However, all of you need to train harder in order to at least delay Zabuza. You won't be able to fight Zabuza without me."

"Alright then. Training it is!" Naruto whooped. "This is going to be fun."

"Training isn't fun." A small boy said as he entered the house.

Tazuna beamed. "Inari! Say hello to the ninjas that have been protecting grandpa!"

Inari stared at the 4 of them for a minute and replied. "They're all going to die, grandpa. There's no way they can beat Gatou."

Already knowing what he would say, Naruto stood up and approached the kid. He grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up. "Listen kid. You might think we're weak, but we're not. No matter what Gatou throws at us, we'll fight him and his punks. The Wave Country needs us and we're the ones here to save it from the grips of Gatou."

"Naruto, put him down!" Kakashi demanded.

"There's no such thing as heroes!" Inari fought against Naruto's grip and tried to kick him. "So if you want to live, then get out of here!"

Naruto placed the boy down onto the ground and the boy ran away. "Sorry, I just let my emotions get the better of me."

"It's fine." Tazuna said. "He's just a little emotional."

Naruto nodded as he and the others began to leave the house for their training. _I didn't notice before, but Inari does have a sizeable chakra pool._

 **That is because you didn't have the sensory abilities you have currently the last time around.** Kurama answered somewhere in his mind. **The boy has potential to be a ninja. I can sense it within him.**

 _That's interesting... I never really expected it._ Naruto thought. _Maybe we can bring him with us later on. After I get through his head, of course._

Kurama mentally shrugged. **Do what you seem fit. But remember, anything you do _will_ have consequences in the end. **

Naruto stepped out of the house with his teammates and into the forest...

* * *

"So basically, we're going to work on chakra control." Kakashi said to his team with his crutches by his side. "Learning how to control is quite tough though. The first step in having good chakra control is... Tree climbing."

"You mean, like this sensei?" Sakura said as she casually walked up the tree and arrived at the highest branch.

Kakashi shrugged. "Well I expected that from you. You're planning to become a medic-nin and I already knew you had good chakra control."

Naruto grinned and began walking up also. "I'm going to beat you Sakura!"

He walked up the tree a bit faster than Sakura and ended up on a branch that was higher than hers. Sasuke's eyes widened while Kakashi looked impressed. "Considering your mediocre chakra control, I'm quite surprised. Though, you've been growing stronger lately, so I'm not too surprised at anything anymore."

Sasuke stared at his two teammates perched on the tree and ran towards the tree He made it around halfway up the tree before the bark cracked under him and jumped back onto the ground before he could fall.

"Don't worry Sasuke." Kakashi told the raven haired boy. "Those two have been training together a lot recently, so it is entirely possible that Naruto picked up some tips from Sakura."

 _So Naruto and Sakura are both this far ahead..._ Sasuke stared at his teammates. _I can't get left behind!_

"Naruto, come down for a second." Sasuke yelled at the blonde. "I need to ask you something."

Naruto jumped between the trees and landed gracefully at Sasuke's feet. "What's up?"

"Er... What's the secret to climbing the tree? Like what exactly did you do?"

"It's fairly simple. You clear your thoughts and only focus on the tree. Make sure you have full concentration and begin climbing. If you just recklessly charge or run at it, you won't make it at all. But if you manage to get rid of your emotions and climb, you should be able to make it up."

Sasuke nodded at the advice and calmly climbed up the tree. This time, he was able to reach around 3 quarters of the way before he lost control. The Uchiha looked at the Uzumaki with increased respect. "I see. Thanks _dobe._ "

"You better get good at that and beat me, _teme_." Naruto grinned.

Kakashi sighed. "Well well... Since Sakura and Naruto are already this advanced, I'll just move onto the elemental jutsu then. After all, all three of you need something to do. Sasuke, you can also do this before you continue your chakra control training."

The jounin pulled out several pieces of blank paper from his pocket. "These are Chakra Papers. As you might have already guessed from what I said before, these papers allow you to see your element type. I am already aware that Sasuke can use fire jutsu while Naruto can apparently use wind. So I'm curious about what types the three of you have."

Sasuke grabbed the paper first. "Just put a bit of your chakra into the paper, Sasuke."

The Uchiha nodded and concentrated. After a few seconds, the paper crinkled and went up in flames. Kakashi rubbed his chin. "Fire and Lightning. I expected fire, but lightning is a nice surprise."

Sakura went after both of them and touched the paper. Instantly, the paper crumbled. "Earth it is then. Makes sense since you can destroy the ground with your punches."

Naruto went last and focused his chakra into the papers. He already knew that his affinity was wind, but was surprised when the paper split in half, became wet, and crumbled all at the same time.

"Uhh..." He stared at the others as they stared at him. "Guess I'm just lucky?"

"Always a surprise, Naruto." Kakashi said glumly. "But it's not unheard of. The First and Second Hokage both had the ability to use all 5 of the elements. I can also use all 5 elements. Though, this means it'll be easier for you to learn a variety of jutsu."

The silver haired jounin pulled out several scrolls and handed them to the three. "These scrolls contain some basic jutsu on each of your elements. You should be able to benefit from them and train. Sasuke, make sure to master the chakra control training before you start on these though."

"Good luck and train hard, Team Seven. Come back to me after you master all these jutsu. Oh and Sakura?" Before he left, the jounin gave the pink haired ninja a menacing smile. "From today on, we're going to have you do a lot of _physical_ activities when you train..."

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke were standing against each other in the middle of the forest. Everyday, one member of Team Seven watched over Tazuna and the other bridge builders as they worked while the other two went into the forest to train. Today, it was Sakura's turn to watch over the bridge, so Sasuke and Naruto had entered the forest and trained together. After several days of Naruto giving out pointers and tips to Sasuke, Sasuke managed to walk to the top of the tree. Now the two boys were practicing some of the jutsu written on the scrolls and using it against each other for practice.

" _Katon: Kaen Hisame no Justu (Fire Release: Incinerating Hail)!"_

Sasuke lifted his hands and brought them down, bringing down a shower of fireballs towards Naruto. Naruto quickly formed hand seals to counter him.

" _Doton: Iwa no Yoroi (Earth Release: Shield of Stone)!"_

Immediately, a stone shield formed out of Naruto's arm and blocked the hail of fire balls coming at him. The fireballs disappeared after hitting the shield and Naruto grinned as he immediately began to form more hand seals to counterattack. " _Suiton: Suihou no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Cannon Technique)."_

A powerful hot beam of water streaked towards Sasuke, but he was able to narrowly dodge it (though his hair was extremely hot). Sasuke grinned as he looked at his teammate. "Not bad, _dobe._ You've certainly gotten better."

"Same goes to you, _teme._ " Naruto grinned in reply. "Let's take a break. Learning all these new jutsu and practicing makes me tired."

As they walked deeper into the forest, the two stumbled into a rather pretty girl (or boy in Naruto's case) picking up herbs and natural plants. She seemed quite distracted so Naruto sneaked up behind her and tapped her shoulder. "Yo."

The response was the girl stumbling forward in surprise, with her skirt flying upwards. Naruto and Sasuke stared at this in shock, as they didn't know how to react on seeing a pair of bright pink panties.

Inside Naruto's mind, Kurama laughed. **HAHAHA. It seems like she isn't actually a boy. She lied to you the last time around, this is interesting.**

 _Er.. This is awkward._ Naruto said as he helped the girl up. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you like that. Just wanted to see what you were doing."

The girl smiled. "No no. It's not a problem." She stared at the two boys in front of her. "It seems like you two are ninjas from the Hidden Leaf, seeing that both of you are wearing those headbands."

"Yep! We're training to become stronger." Naruto said. "This idiot next to me is named Sasuke, I'm Naruto! What's your name?"

"My name?" The girl thought for a moment. "My name is Haku. May I ask why you're up so early training in the forest?"

To Naruto's surprise, Sasuke stepped in. "Well, I'm training to become stronger in order to beat someone. This idiot here is training to become the leader of our village and also to bring peace to the world."

"Bring peace to the world?" Haku asked the blond haired boy. "That is quite an ambitious goal, I must say. In order to bring peace to the world, you must be able to protect everyone."

Naruto nodded. "I might not be strong enough now, but I'll definitely be stronger in the future. My ultimate goal is to become the strongest and make sure that there are no more wars and deaths. A peaceful world without the constant fighting between the villages."

"A world of peace..." Haku wondered out loud. She glanced at Naruto and gave him a bright smile. "Even though the goal is very ambitious and impossible to reach, I believe in you. You will become a great ninja for your village and achieve that goal. I have a person that I want to protect myself and you have given me motivation to further my goal."

 _Off the battlefield, Haku was really bright and friendly._ Naruto recalled. _This time around though, she won't die. Not if I can stop it._

Haku got up and waved good bye. "I must be going. But good luck on your training."

Naruto and Sasuke both waved back. Sasuke gave out a small smirk as he watched Naruto stare at the girl. "You know, if Sakura finds out that you saw another girl's panties, she'll punch you in the face."

"What? No she won't. She likes you _teme_ , not me." Naruto replied.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. His teammate was stronger, but still clueless.

* * *

"Kakashi sensei, both Naruto and Sasuke look worn out." Sakura said, inspecting the two.

The two ninjas were barely moving as they ate their dinner. Kakashi sighed. "Looks like those two wore themselves out from using too much chakra. I told you to train, but not train from dawn to dusk. I'm assuming that you managed to learn most of the jutsu from the scrolls?"

Naruto groaned. "Not most. All of it, sensei. Sasuke learned all of the jutsu from his scroll also. We were having a competition on who could memorize all the jutsu first. He beat me by an hour because I had one more scroll."

"You would've lost anyways, I was going easy on you." Sasuke replied, his body aching from all the training. "Since Sakura already learned everything from her scroll, I'm guessing that we're going to join Sakura on the bridge tomorrow?'

Kakashi nodded. "But you two are going to rest up. You're in no condition to go early in the morning, so join us in the afternoon."

It was at that moment when hell broke loose.

"Why do you guys bother to try so hard?" Inari screamed with tears rolling down his face. "No matter how hard you train or work, Gatou will still beat you in the end! When facing the strong, the weak only get killed!"

Everyone grimaced at the statement, but Naruto remained calm. "Hey Inari, come with me for a second."

Despite the younger boy's protests, Naruto dragged the boy with him outside. Tazuna was about to object, but Sakura grabbed his arm. "Don't worry, he's not going to hurt Inari. Though, he's going to probably lecture Inari and make him feel positive."

"Oh, that's a relief. I thought he was going to pound the boy out of his senses." Tazuna replied. "But lecture him?"

Sakura shrugged. "What can I say? Naruto is scarily persuasive."

* * *

"Kid, listen." Naruto said. "I know about your dad. I heard it from Kakashi-sensei, who heard it from the old man. Like you, I didn't grow up with parents. I was an orphan from birth and my dad sacrificed his life for the village. He... did something to me that made me the villagers hate my gut. They thought I was the reason that my dad died and a bunch of other civilians died. I stayed a loner till I graduated the Academy and met my teammates."

Inari looked up at the blond ninja. "But.. You act so happy all the time. How?"

The host of the Nine Tails smiled at the young boy. "Because if you have a goal to chase after, you're too busy to cry or complain, you have to be happy and work hard to achieve that goal. You have to chase that goal with your two hands and never let go."

"What's your goal then, Naruto?"

Naruto looked up at the sky filled with stars. "To bring peace to the world. To make sure that there's no more wars or deaths. To make sure that bad guys like Gatou can't just walk in here and kill innocent people. That's my goal, and I'm too busy fighting for that goal to cry or whine. I need to be as strong as I could get. This world needs a hero to help them, so I'll be that hero."

"You might not know it Inari, but you have a sizable tank of chakra in you." Naruto poked the little boy's chest. "I don't think you ever noticed it since nobody here is a ninja, but I can feel chakra in you. I think your dad might have been a shinobi, I'm not sure. But you definitely have the potential to be a ninja."

He pulled out several pieces of paper and showed it to the black haired boy. "See these? These are Chakra Papers that I nicked from the sensei. If you concentrate hard enough and put your chakra into the paper, it'll be affected and show what element you are. If I'm right, the paper should be effected if you are a ninja."

Inari took a piece of paper and stared at it with a blank face. Naruto laughed and put one between his fingers. "Here, I'll demonstrate it for you."

After a second of concentration, the paper immediately reacted by splitting itself in half, wetting itself, and crumbling to dust. "See? I have the elements of wind, water, and earth. Just put it between your fingers and concentrate on your energy going into the paper."

The young boy nodded and focused onto his paper. He began to concentrate on pouring the energy he didn't know he had into the paper. For a minute, there was no reaction as the boy struggle to focus, but the paper finally reacted by becoming soggy wet.

Naruto grinned. "Water. Should've known. That means you can be a ninja. You aren't just a weakling or a civilian, you're a ninja. And ninjas don't back down from their goals, you know."

Inari's eyes widened. "I'm really a ninja?"

"Yep!" Naruto said. "Hmm, maybe I can teach you today."

"Teach me!" Inari pleaded.

Naruto raised his eyebrows. "Oh yeah? But just a minute ago, you were telling me that the weak can never beat the strong and that our training is useless. Why should I train you if you're weaker than me?"

"Because..." The boy clenched his fist. "If what you're saying is right, then I want to be strong enough to achieve my goals too."

"And what's your goal?" Naruto asked.

"To become strong enough to protect my country and my mom and grandpa!" Inari announced.

Naruto nodded. "Alright, I'll take it easy on you today since I'm tired. I'll teach you a thing or two..."

* * *

"Kyaa!" Tsunami, Inari's mother, screamed.

Two samurais approached her with their swords out as Inari rushed into the kitchen. "Mom!"

The samurai with the eye patch looked at the kid. "There's a kid too? Should we take him hostage?"

"NO!" Tsunami screamed. "If you need a hostage, just take me instead! But leave my son alone!"

"Looks like you got lucky kid. Your mom is giving up herself to be taken hostage." The other samurai grinned as he grabbed Tsunami by the arm. "Let's go."

Inari glared at the two samurais and threw a rock at the one with the eye patch. "Hey cyclops!"

The samurai scowled at the boy as he turned around. "Do you want to die kid? Never mind, I'll just kill you right now!"

As the samurai was charging, Inari remembered the basic steps for what he learned yesterday. _Ox, Tiger, Boar._

" _Suiton: Mizu no Waruasobi (Water Release: Water Stream)!"_

A steady stream of water streaked out of Inari's mouth and struck the samurai's eyes. He dropped the blade and fell back in agony. "AHH! MY EYES! Hot water! That stings!"

Inari gave a toothy grin to the other samurai, who was immediately taken out by someone behind him. As the body collapsed, Inari saw Naruto standing behind the samurai with his fist out. "Alright Inari, good job. Take your mom somewhere safe while I go help out my friends. I trust you."

" _Ani_." Inari said before Naruto walked away. He placed his fist up. "Go get them, _ani_."

Naruto smiled and gave him a fist bump. "You got it kid."

* * *

Sasuke was fighting for his life against the strange mirrors that the ice kid had placed up. Despite his Sharingan, the enemy was far too fast for him within the mirrors. He had been badly scratched up and beaten from the attacks from the mysterious masked nin when he suddenly heard a familiar voice.

"Sasuke, don't worry! I'll get you out of there!"

He resisted the urge to grin as Naruto calmly walked onto the bridge. "I am the future Hokage, after all."

Naruto gave a quick glance at the ice ninja who was in the mirrors. "I'm going to end you right now, whoever you are behind the mask!"

It was too early to show the technique, but he knew that he had no choice. The ice mirrors couldn't be destroyed by simple fire jutsu and the last time he entered the mirrors, he and Sasuke nearly died. Even though that experience changed the perspective of both boys on each other, he couldn't allow that to simply happen again to his friend. And he needed to stop Kakashi sensei from killing Zabuza, as they were still fighting each other in the background.

After taking a deep breath, he began to form an orb of wind in his hand. Once the size was sufficient he began to run towards the mirrors at top speed.

Sasuke looked at the jutsu with surprise. _That was the jutsu that was practicing the other day..._

" _Rasengan!_ " Naruto shouted as he crashed his hand into one of the mirrors. The mirror exploded into a million particles and Naruto quickly motioned to Sasuke. "Come on! Get out of there!"

The Uchiha quickly jumped out and escaped through the opening. He looked at Naruto and smirked. "I would've beaten him in the end... but thanks."

Naruto nodded. "Now we have to take down the bastard."

The ice ninja was forced to exit the mirrors and jumped out in front of them. "You will pay for that."

"Cut the crap and fight me, you bastard." Naruto growled. He needed to take off that mask somehow in order to reveal Haku's true identity. " _Fuuton: Seijitsu Kaze-ken!"_

Naruto swung the kunai in his hand and an air blade formed. The masked nin managed to dodge the attack, but the wind somehow twisted towards the user's face and slashed the mask in half. The mask broke, revealing the face of Haku.

"It's Haku!" Sasuke exclaimed, staring at the girl. "Why is she attacking us?"

"Because I must protect Zabuza-sama and if I don't distract you, you'll hurt him." Haku replied with her senbons out in defense. "After my father killed my mother and left me to die, Zabuza picked me off the streets and helped me survive. He taught me to become stronger and become his right hand, and it is my duty to protect him to the end."

Naruto shook his head. "I don't want to fight you, but I guess I'll have to in order to protect my team and the old man."

"Which is why I have to keep you stuck here till we can knock out Zabuza." Naruto said as he smiled.

A voice came out from under Haku's feet. " _Doton! Shinjuu Zanshu No Jutsu!"_

The real Naruto came out of the ground as Haku was forcefully pulled into the ground, with only her head sticking out. "Head Hunter jutsu. Kakashi-sensei included that in the scrolls and it's a pretty fun and cool jutsu to use. Your won't be able to move for the time being, your arms and legs are completely stuck."

"And Haku." Naruto said to the girl as he turned away. "Don't think of yourself as useless. You still have time to learn and grow. I won't kill Zabuza and I'll rescue him so you can still be with him."

A tear fell down Haku's face. "Thank you, Naruto."

The blonde turned to Sasuke and grinned. "Good job on holding out against her. Now we just need to..."

" _Lightning Blade!"_

"Shoot!" Naruto said. " _Kage no Bunshin!"_

A Naruto clone shot out towards Kakashi and Zabuza immediately and intercepted Kakashi's intended attack for Zabuza. The clone dispersed and the Lightning Blade died on Kakashi's hands.

Zabuza and Kakashi looked too shocked to move as Naruto came towards both of them. "Zabuza, I know why you're doing this. The Mizukage, right? The failed coup?"

"And how would you know about that, brat?" Zabuza said, still pinned down by the dogs.

"I mean, it was pretty big news. It's not everyday that a ninja goes rogue against his village and tries to kill the leader." Naruto answered. "If you're doing this to try another coup... Then stop. Because I have some information that might make you change your mind."

Zabuza stared at Kakashi. "Release me and I won't kill any of you."

Kakashi shook his head. "You'll just have to be comfortable in that position."

"It's about the Mizukage... The Fourth Mizukage is dead. There's a new one currently ruling the Hidden Mist now." Naruto revealed.

The Demon of the Hidden Mist stared at the boy. "How do you know this?"

"I visit the Hokage's office often and he received some diplomats from the Hidden Mist saying that there is a new Mizukage. Apparently, the new one wants to re-establish relations with the other major villages and is currently going under reforms."

"I see." Zabuza nodded. "Who is the new Mizukage?"

"A woman named Mei? Not sure." Naruto answered truthfully. Even though he was from the future, he still didn't know the real names of the Five Kages except Tsunade.

"You can release me Kakashi, I won't kill any of you. My work here is almost done." Zabuza said calmly.

Kakashi was about to make another snark comment when Naruto interrupted him. "Sensei, I think it's fine now. Just trust me."

The jounin sighed. "You better be right Naruto, but I trust your instincts."

Immediately, the dogs holding down Zabuza disappeared, prompting the missing nin to drop. "Thank you for informing me, brat. Now I can head back to the Hidden Mist and see what I can do. Before I leave though, I have a score to settle with Gatou..."

Naruto grinned. "No problem, so do we. After all, he did hire you to kill the old man. Sakura, can you help Haku get out of the ground? It'll take forever for us to dig her out."

"With pleasure." Sakura replied. "SHANNARO!"

She leaped into the air and crashed her fist into the ground near Haku. The ground instantly cracked, freeing Haku from the ground. Haku nodded towards her female counterpart. "Thank you."

"Zabuza." Naruto said to the demon. The member of the Seven Swordsmen turned his head. "Make sure to keep Haku safe for me. You're the only one that knows her. She treats you like family."

The blond haired ninja knew that without Haku's death, Zabuza wouldn't feel the same way he did about Haku as before. However, Naruto was sure that Zabuza still cared deeply about the girl's well being. The Demon of the Hidden Mist slowly nodded. "I will make sure to take care of her, brat. After all, I owe you one for saving my life and telling me about the Hidden Mist. What's your name, by the way?"

"Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto." The young ninja answered. "Now, if Gatou arrives..."

"There they are!" A shrill voice screamed.

At the end of the bridge, dozens of armed gang members, samurais, and bandits gathered around a single short man. "So, you couldn't finish them off... I should've known that you were worthless. I never planned to pay you anyways... But I never expected to see all these ninja brats and you alive, "Demon of the Hidden Mist."

For a moment, there was complete silence as the members of Team 7 glanced at each other and then glanced at Haku and Zabuza.

"All of you, do you still have enough chakra to fight?" Naruto asked.

"I have enough." Sasuke said, his eyes switching back to the Sharingan.

Sakura grinned. "I haven't fought at all and it's actually _killing_ me. You and Sasuke always gets to knock around the bad guys, I want to give it a go."

Kakashi sighed. "I'll just let you three handle it. Zabuza, I'm guessing you're going to lead them."

"I will." Zabuza nodded to Haku with a new glint in his eyes. "Let's make them pay. I'm going to capture Gatou alive and _slowly_ torture him."

Several minutes later, Inari appeared with the other villagers, only to find dozens of bandits and thieves laying all over the bridge while Gatou was unconscious with a broken nose.

Naruto smiled as Inari approached him. "You know, heroes always come at just the right time, but you were just a bit too late."

* * *

"So you're heading back to the Hidden Mist with Haku?" Kakashi asked the missing nin.

Zabuza nodded. "It looks like your student wasn't lying. The Mizukage seems to have located where I am and sent me a scroll asking for my return. Apparently, she wants me to become a teacher at the newly opened Academy and lead a Genin squad in the future."

Kakashi looked surprised. "The Demon of the Hidden Mist as a school teacher... Hmm... That doesn't sound exactly right."

"We might not be enemies anymore Kakashi, but I still have good reasons to kill you." Zabuza glared at the silver haired jounin.

The son of the White Fang waved his hand. "Don't worry about it. Becoming a teacher and leading a Genin team can be very rewarding. I had second thoughts of becoming a jounin instructor, but seeing this team makes me change my mind. They are very talented and it is rewarding to see them grow everyday."

"You have an impressive team." Zabuza admitted. "That Naruto brat is quite impressive, and you have a Uchiha and a girl with incredible strength. If I ever manage to cultivate a team, I will like for them to face off against yours to see who is the better sensei."

"You have yourself a deal, Zabuza." Kakashi held out his hand for the ninja to shake.

The Demon took it with his good hand. "I'll be heading out right now with Haku. Till next time."

After the two ninjas took off, Kakashi approached his team who were all waiting by the edge of the bridge with Inari and his family.

"What did you guys even talk about? It seems like you talked to him for hours." Naruto said with a small grin on his face.

Behind him, Sakura and Sasuke were both smiling also. The bridge had been completed and the mission was done, with everyone enjoying the last days of the mission to rest and explore the village.

The white haired jounin shrugged. "Nothing much. The weather, the Hidden Mist, and a few other things."

Inari was hugging his mom as he prepared to leave with the group. "I'll see you in a month mom."

Tsunami smiled at her only child. "You'll do great, I believe in you."

"We're really taking him along?" Sakura wondered. "I thought you were kidding."

Naruto shook his head. "Nah. Inari has potential to be a great ninja and now with the bridge complete, he'll be able to visit the Wave Country frequently and quickly. I already promised him that I'll go back with him every month. He'll be sharing my apartment. Kakashi-sensei had no objections."

"Well then. If there's nothing else, we'll be heading out." Kakashi said cheerfully. "Great work again Team Seven. I expected nothing less."

Team Seven plus Inari waved good bye to Tsunami and Tazuna as they headed back to the Leaf.

"By the way, old man!" Naruto shouted from the distance.

Tazuna looked at the blond haired ninja. "What is it, Naruto?"

"Don't name the bridge after me! Name is "Great Peace Bridge" because that's where my goal of peace began!"

The expert bridge builder grinned. "Will do Naruto! Take care!"

* * *

"So Naruto, does Sakura know that you accidentally saw Haku's panties?"

"Shut up Sasuk..."

"SHANNARO!"

* * *

"So you completed an A-rank mission that involved a jounin level missing nin and three chunin level missing nins? And you sent them back to the Hidden Mist? And you brought back a boy from the Wave Country because he has the talent to become a shinobi?" Sarutobi asked the four members of Team Seven. "Team Seven, you never fail to amaze me."

Kakashi didn't look up from his book. "That's what I said."

"I will make sure that you are paid accordingly and I think I should expect a thanks from the Mizukage soon... As for the boy, I'll allow him to enter the Academy since he's young enough." The Hokage told the team. "All of you are dismissed except Sakura, Naruto, and Kakashi. ANBU, leave my office immediately."

Sasuke glanced at his teammates and Kakashi as he left the office. _Am I left out on something?_

After it was clear that the office was cleared, the Hokage turned to the remaining members of Team Seven. "Naruto and Sakura. I believe it is time for you to tell Kakashi everything you told me."

"What, _jiji_? This wasn't part of the plan." Naruto questioned.

Kakashi was still reading his book as he answered. "I already knew, Naruto. I heard you and Sakura talking on the day that we met. I thought your introductions were slightly odd, so I spied on you. That is why I wasn't surprised that you manage to pull off everything I threw at you so easily."

Sakura shook her head and smacked Naruto. "Why do you have to talk so loudly? When you talked on the Academy roof, half of the village probably heard you."

"I felt like it was time for us to start planning for the Chunin Exams. After all, it is in a few weeks." Lord Third answered."It is time for us to trap Orochimaru and destroy him, once and for all."

* * *

 **AN:** Jesus that took me three days to complete. It's super long, but I felt like the Wave Mission was a crucial part of the story. Of course, I edited it here and there and made sure it was shorter than it actually was, but the chapter is still very long (14K words!).

Anyways. Feel free to leave any comments or criticisms in the review section! Just a warning, my future updates won't ever be this long again.

Till next time!


	5. Chapter 5

**AN:** I just have a small warning for all of you. Many of the reviews you've posted haven't shown up on the website. It has made me incredible frustrated because I actually like reviews and use them to improve my work. So! If I don't reply to you, I deeply apologize.

Somebody mentioned that it's absurd to teach Inari an offensive water technique within a day. I would like to clarify that the jutsu is actually an E-ranked jutsu that an Academy student is able to learn with ease. It's not an offensive jutsu, it just shoots a water stream out of the person's mouth (though the water temperature can be adjusted).

I'll answer the other reviews on the bottom due to someone's request.

That being said, let us move into the Chunin Exam arc! How will things change from here?

* * *

"You've been pretty cold to me lately bro! I never see you around anymore!" Konohamaru Sarutobi shouted to the blond haired ninja.

Naruto groaned. _Konohamaru... Right._ "I'm really busy these days. I just got back from an A-ranked mission just a week ago and I'm still working on D-ranked missions."

"Umm... Leader... Are you free right now though?" Moegi, the little girl with two cone shaped hair sticking out on both sides of her head. "Because Konohamaru wants to play ninja with you."

"Hmm. I do kinda need a break. But at the same time, I want to train for the upcoming Chunin Exams." Naruto wondered out loud.

Udon, the little boy with the bowl cut and drippy nose, held back a struggling Konohamaru who was trying to charge at Naruto. "What is the Chunin Exam?"

"The Chunin Exam is basically a test to see if a ninja is ready to become a chunin, which is a rank above genin." A voice behind Naruto explained. Naruto came face to face with Sakura, who had her hands to her hips. "It's basically to see the strengths of a genin and determine if they're ready to move up, since ninjas that become chunin need to have good leadership and combat skills."

"Yeah, what she said." Naruto said afterwards. "I'm training hard for the exams. If you want to train with me, then you can come with me! Maybe I can teach you a couple of jutsu and help you with your taijutsu!"

Just then, a little boy with a bucket hat ran behind Naruto. "Yo _ani_. Who are they?"

Naruto brightened when he looked at Inari. "Yo Inari! These will be your classmates in the Academy! That guy with the goggles is Konohamaru, and the two next to him are Udon and Moegi. Konohamaru, this is my other student, Inari. Make sure to treat him well at the Academy since he's new around here."

Konohamaru looked visibly surprised. "No way boss, _another_ student? That's not fair!"

"It's my choice kid, and I see talent in Inari. Who knows? Maybe he'll beat you one day and become my successor..." Naruto said with a sly grin.

Inari came forward and stuck out his hand for Konohamaru to shake, but the Hokage's grandson rejected the offer. "From now on, you're my rival instead of leader! I'll show you that I'm stronger! Come on guys, let's go off to train!"

As the trio stumbled away, Inari looked up at Naruto. Naruto grinned at him. "Konohamaru might act like an idiot, but he's a smart kid on the inside. If you don't train hard at the Academy, you might fall behind him! I believe that both of you will be splendid ninjas one day, but I hope you don't act as brash as he does."

"You got it _ani_." Inari replied with a similar grin to Naruto's. "I'll never let you down. One day, I'm going to become a hero like you!"

"That's the spirit!" Naruto messed with the boy's hat.

Inari pointed at Sakura who was still standing besides Naruto. "By the way, _ani._ Is that girl your girl friend? Every time I see you around the village, you're always hanging out with her."

Naruto gulped as he vividly remembered what happened the last time that someone asked _the_ question. "Sakura? Pfft... No.. She's not. Do you remember the other guy on our team? The one that had black hair and always acted like he was better than everyone else? She likes him. I'm just her friend."

 _Out of all the boys in the village, you liked an emo who was a self centered bastard. Now, you like a dense idiot that doesn't even realize that you don't even like Sasuke anymore._ Inner Sakura mumbled to Sakura. _Your love life is so great. _

_Shut up. You're part of me too._ Sakura thought silently.

"Wow. You must really have bad luck then, _ani_. Even I had girls like me back at the Wave Country." Inari told the older ninja.

The blonde hung his head. "I know, it was Sasuke that always attracted the girls."

"If you all can stop blocking our way on the street and let us through, that would be great." An irritated voice said behind Naruto, Sakura, and Inari.

Two ninjas stood behind them, with the speaker being a male ninja with black clothes and purple painting on his face. A female ninja with rather spiky hair and a giant fan stood next to him, her arms folded above her chest. The girl sighed. "Don't cause any trouble. We are foreign visitors after all."

"Judging by your headband... I'm going to guess you're Sand-nins coming from the Hidden Sand, correct? I'm also going to guess that you're participating in the chunin exams, representing the Hidden Sand." Naruto casually said to the newcomers.

The ninja with the face paint looked surprised. "You know quite a lot, blonde."

Naruto shrugged. "I also know that you're a puppet ninja. The gloves you have on right now are specially made for puppeteers. I heard that Suna has a lot of talented puppeteers, though I never expected they would send one for the chunin exams."

"Interesting." The puppeteer answered. "You seem to know quite about Suna and puppeteers."

"I just study a lot about other villages. I'm entering the chunin exams, so I need to be prepared as much as I can." Naruto answered, which wasn't a lie since Team 7 was going to be part of the chunin exams. Originally, Sarutobi wanted Team Seven to stay out and become a special squad to help defend the village and evacuate the civilians when Orochimaru struck. However, Sakura argued that it was entirely possible that Orochimaru wouldn't attack and take the bait if Sasuke wasn't part of the exam. Eventually, Sarutobi relented and agreed to allow Team Seven to partake in the Chunin Exam like last time.

The male Suna ninja nodded. "Not bad. Guess you Leaf Ninjas are pretty smart, huh? What's your name?"

"Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto" The Leaf ninja answered back with his hand out.

The puppeteer took it. "Kankuro. The girl next to me is my sister, Temari. As you guessed it, we're going to take part in the chunin exams."

Just then, the last member of Team 7 jumped down from the trees and landed next to Sakura and Naruto. "Sand ninjas, huh?"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Don't challenge them on the streets, Sasuke. You can fight them during the exams if you actually pass."

Sasuke glared at him. "Shut it _dobe_. I'll probably get further than you."

"We'll see about that." Naruto grinned.

"Kankuro..." A voice appeared from the tree that Sasuke was sitting in a minute before. "When will you stop talking and actually move?"

All eyes turned to the red haired ninja with a gourd that was standing upside down on a tree branch. Kankuro stuttered. "Gaara.. I was.."

"Shut up Kankuro or I will kill you." Gaara replied with little emotion in his voice. The red haired boy stared at the two male ninjas in front of him before jumping down next to his fellow Sand ninjas.

"Sorry, Gaara... I won't keep you waiting again." Kankuro said frantically.

Gaara turned to the three Leaf genin. "Uzumaki Naruto and... Uchiha Sasuke... Mother will have your blood..."

The three Sand shinobis walked past the Leaf shinobis ass Naruto took one last glance at Gaara before he left.

 _Kurama. You're ready to make the connection when the time comes, right?_

 **Don't worry Kit.** Kurama replied. **I'll knock some sense into my little brother.**

* * *

The next day, Kakashi called for a team gathering at the usual gathering place for an important announcement. "I've nominated all three of you for the chunin exam, like I said I would a few days ago."

He handed each person a paper with the title "Chunin Exam Application" written on the top of the page. "I know all three of you are probably going to take it, so make sure to come to Room 301 by 4 PM tomorrow if you want to turn in your applications. That's all for today. Go train or something."

Kakashi disappeared in a cloud of smoke. When he did, all three members of Team Seven turned to each other and grinned.

"So." Sasuke said while he looked at the paper. "I can finally fight some stronger ninjas and possibly have a 1 vs 1 fight against Naruto... I'm interested."

Naruto yawned. "And we can show the other ninjas our skills and finally move forward."

Sakura cracked her knuckles. "With the three of us as a team, the other genin won't stand a chance."

"Whoever doesn't become a chunin should pay for our team meals for the rest of the year." Sasuke mused.

The other two members nodded, especially Naruto. "There is no way I'm going to pay for barbecue _and_ ramen for the rest of the year. I'll definitely be promoted."

"Same with me." Sakura echoed. "But what happens if all three of us are promoted?"

"Then we make Kakashi-sensei buy." Naruto replied.

All three of them seemed to agree with the idea as they nodded and gave each others fist bumps. A silver haired jounin was watching them from a post as he shook his head. "Looks like I'll need to take on extra missions to fulfill their appetites..."

* * *

The crowd of genin watched as one of the two Leaf ninjas standing in front of Room "301" knocked away a ninja with a bowl cut.

"Hah! You plan to take the chunin exam with that?" The ninja with two swords on his back mocked. "You should quit now before you get hurt. You're just a little kid."

His partner nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're way too small and weak to be taking this test."

A girl with her hair tied in buns approached the door. "Please, just let us through."

As she was walking forward, the genin with the two swords moved to strike her in the face, only to find both of his arms restrained by two fellow Leaf ninjas. To the right side of the Leaf ninja with the two swords was a boy with raven black hair and onyx eyes. To his left side was a boy with blond hair and blue eyes. Both of them had appeared out of nowhere and both of them didn't look too happy.

"Move away from the door and let the girl through." The raven haired boy said, his eyes glowing dangerously red.

"What my friend said." The blonde continued. "We were going to beat you up to go through anyways. Just do us a favor and move aside."

The ninja blocking the door gulped. "Screw off rookies. We're doing you all a favor. You think this exam is a joke? We failed the exams three straight times. Those that take the chunin exams end up quitting as shinobis and other shinobis die during these exams. Chunins also become military captains. The failure of a mission. The death of a comrade. Do you kids really think that you can deal with that? Do you kids really think that you can pass?"

Naruto looked at Sasuke and whispered behind the restrained ninja's back. "Genjutsu. This is the second floor, remember? Let's silently take that girl's team and leave with Sakura."

"Why?" Sasuke asked.

"Less competition for the exams. The others should be able to figure it out eventually." Naruto whispered. "Don't be a know it all and let's go to the third floor."

"Fine." Sasuke released his grip on the ninja's right arm while Naruto let go of the left arm. "We'll back off."

The other genin only watched as Team 7 left with the Chinese bun girl's team and continued the standoff between the two ninjas blocking the door. When they were out of earshot, the girl with the buns smiled. "Thanks for the save back there, both of you. But I'm guessing that you already knew the trick?"

Naruto nodded. "Genjutsu. We were on the second floor, so Room 301 should be on the third floor."

"I'm quite impressed. It seems like both of you also had the speed to match your intelligence." The girl said. "I'm Ten Ten, and these are my teammates Lee and Neji."

Lee, the boy with the bad bowl cut, shook all their hands while Neji looked at them from a distance. When Lee shook Sakura's hand, his face gleamed. "Yosh! You must be Sakura! Let's go out together! I'll protect you till I die!"

Sakura briefly glanced at Naruto and Sasuke for help, but they were both holding back their laughter. "No thanks. I'm not interested."

"Are you interested in another guy then?" Lee came closer to her. "Who is it?"

The pink haired girl blushed. "You don't need to know."

Neji stepped in between them and approached the two male members of Team 7. "You two. What are your names?"

"Sasuke Uchiha."

"Naruto Uzumaki."

"I'll look forward on facing both of you during the exams." Neji glared at the two boys. "Who is your jounin instructor?"

"Kakashi is our sensei." Naruto answered.

Lee jumped into the conversation. "Yosh! You must be the prized students of our sensei's eternal rival!"

"Eternal rival?" Sasuke asked the bushy brow boy.

"Do you not know our sensei?" Lee said to the Uchiha. "The taijutsu master, Might Guy? The Green Beast of Konoha?"

Everyone in Team 7 shook their heads. Lee looked appalled. "Surely you must have seen him around! He's the handsomest man in all of Konoha and he is stronger than your sensei!"

"Stronger than Kakashi sensei?" Naruto replied. "I doubt it. He's really strong."

"I see you have great faith in your sensei! Then let us spar right here to determine which sensei is the better teacher!" Lee answered.

Naruto turned to his rival and grinned. "You can fight Lee. I'll just watch on the side with Sakura and let you two determine which of our sensei is the better teacher."

The Uchiha snorted. "Are you trying to tire me out before the exams? I'll just wait and fight you all in the exams."

"We should probably head over to Room 301. The registration ends in 10 minutes." Sakura said to the two as she dragged them by the ears, making both Naruto and Sasuke cry in pain.

The members of Team Guy followed along as they watched the two strong genin being dragged all the way up the stairs...

* * *

"So we're finally here." Naruto said as he entered the room overflowing with other ninjas. "You ready for this, Sasuke and Sakura?"

His two teammates nodded as they entered next to him. There were at least a few dozen ninjas in the room, all milling around and doing their own thing.

Out of nowhere, a blond and purple blur appeared out of nowhere and rocketed onto Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun!"

Sakura groaned. "Oh no... It's Ino."

Shikamaru and Choji approached Team Seven as Sasuke was desperately trying to get Ino off him. The lazy ninja waved to them first. "Man, what a drag. I wish that Ino hadn't realized that there was a genjutsu placed on the second floor to make it look like Room 301 was on it."

"Cheer up Shikamaru, I bet this exam will be fun!" Naruto exclaimed. "And who knows? You might find a girl of interest from the exams!"

The female member of Team 7 gave out a small snicker from Naruto's remark. Shikamaru just shrugged. "Whatever. I'm already tired from just walking up here."

"Looks like we've all gathered then!" A new voiced announced. A group consisting of a guy in a trench coat and sunglasses, a guy with a dog on his head, and a girl with purple hair approached the 6 other rookies. Kiba smirked at the others. "All 9 of this year's rookies are assembled. I wonder how far we'll all get."

Sasuke finally manage to untangle from Ino and join in on the conversation. "You seem awfully confident, Kiba."

"We did a lot of training. We'll be able to beat all of you." Kiba replied.

The Uchiha looked the other way. "Even if your team did train, your team won't be able to beat our team."

Kiba growled. "Why you little..."

"You should all quiet down, since you're attracting unwanted attention." A silver haired boy said as he approached the Rookie 9. "This isn't exactly a picnic. Look at the ninjas around you. I can't blame you though, I was once like you myself."

Naruto glared at the boy. He knew exactly who he was. "I'm Kabuto. Pleased to meet you rookies."

"You said that you were once a rookie, so I'm guessing you aren't a rookie anymore?" Sakura asked.

"Yep, this is my seventh time taking this test. And since the chunin exams are hosted twice a year, this is my fourth year." Kabuto replied.

Sasuke looked slightly interested. "So you must know quite a lot about the exams then."

There was a slight hint of glee in Kabuto's eyes as he answered. "Ah yes. I have plenty of information that I have in these nin-info cards of mine."

He pulled out a deck of cards and placed them on the floor. "Is there anyone in particular that you want to know about?"

"Show me the cards for my teammates, Naruto and Sakura." Sasuke answered.

The blond and pink haired teammates looked surprised, but Kabuto shrugged and pulled out their cards. "Uzumaki Naruto. He's your teammate in Team Seven. He has completed 19 D-Rank missions and 1 A-Rank mission. Wow, an A-Rank? His sensei is Kakashi. His ninjutsu and taijutsu are chunin level, if not higher. But he lacks completely in genjutsu. I heard that he can even perform an A-Rank jutsu that is fairly deadly."

"How do you even know all this?" Sasuke asked the silver haired boy.

Kabuto shrugged. "I snoop around, look through records, and I even scout out some of the stronger ninjas to gain info on them."

He placed down a card that had a picture of Sakura on it. "Haruno Sakura. Same team as you and Naruto. Completed the same amount of missions. Same sensei. Works at the hospital as an intern and is quite talented in medical ninjutsu. She is also proficient in taijutsu and genjutsu, but has rather weak offensive ninjutsu. It seems like your team is the team to beat. There's an immense amount of talent between you three."

Team Seven beamed, but only Naruto and Sakura knew the truth behind this nice and easy going silver haired ninja. Kabuto placed the cards back into his pocket. "Leaf, Sand, Grass, Water, Rain, Sound... Many outstanding Genins from various different villages are here to take the exam. The Hidden Sound Village was created just last year, so I don't have much information about them. But the rest of the Hidden Villages are filled with talented exam won't be easy for any of you."

"How are those bastards talented? Naruto was dead last!" Kiba shouted at the older genin. "If anything, they will be the team that will be beaten!"

Sasuke scoffed. "If anything, it's your team. I know my team very well and they're more than a match for you and your team."

"You cocky Uchiha!" Kiba fired back. "I'll whip your ass, just you wait and see!"

"Quiet down you idiots!"

A cloud of smoke appeared in the front of the room. When the smoke disappeared, a man with a large scar across his face stood in front of a crowd of chunins.

"Thanks for waiting!" The man said. "I am Morino Ibiki, the examiner for the Chunin Selection Exam's First Test. I am also part of the Konoha Interrogation Unit, so do not take me too lightly."

Several genins shivered at those words, but Ibiki ignored them and continued. "Let me just make this clear before we begin. There will be no more fighting without the permission of an examiner. Even if you are allowed to fight, you are not to kill your opponents under any circumstances. Failure to comply to my commands will result in your immediate failure."

"For this test, you will pick out one of the tabs that will be handed to you and sit in your assigned seat for the written exam." Ibki announced to the genins. "So take your tabs and go to your seats so we can get started."

While waiting in line, Naruto approached Sasuke silently and elbowed him. "Remember, this exam might not seem like what its actually supposed to be. Look underneath the underneath."

Sasuke nodded silently and left the line with his tab. Naruto followed afterwards and picked out a small tab that had a number on it. _32\. Huh, I feel like something is a bit different than last time._

Instead of sitting next to Hinata, Naruto sat next to a ninja from the Hidden Leaf that he didn't know to his left and Sakura to his right.

"Eh? Naruto? What are you doing next to me?" Sakura squeaked as he slid into the seat next to hers.

Naruto shushed her. "I don't know. I might have picked a different tab then last time and caused a change in seating somehow. I'm not sure."

"Do not turn your tests over and listen closely to what I have to say!" Ibiki yelled. "There are many important rules to this first test. I'll write it on the board while I explain, but questions will not be allowed. And _don't_ make me repeat myself."

He explained the rules to the genins within the room, only making them even more nervous then before. "Now, begin! You have one hour!"

The blond haired ninja stared at his paper. _Good thing I've already reviewed all the material. Thanks for helping out Kurama._

 **I never knew you would make me study _algebra_** **of all things. I would rather stay sealed inside of you then listen to algebra class.** Kurama snarled. **Your clones helped you study, but if you don't remember anything, I'll help you answer them. After all, I have thousands of years of knowledge and I have much better memorization skills than you.**

 _First question is a cryptogram._ Naruto thought as he stared at the paper. _Huh. This isn't hard. I remember studying it a few days back. This is one of the harder ones, but it isn't that hard since I studied all the codes and code breakers._

Naruto immediately began to work diligently on the cryptogram, making sure to have Kurama double check his work along the way. _The answer is "Our Hokage's name is Sarutobi?" Really?"_

Kurama laughed inside his head. **And to think that you couldn't solve this the first time around. Though you weren't really the brightest kid around.**

The next question was an algebra question that involved circumference and distance. _This one isn't that hard either. Geez once you know the equations, you just plug it in the numbers and you get the answer._

 **You had 10 clones work day and night to study math and you could barely do a problem like this after 3 days.** Kurama scoffed. **I commend you on your efforts to learn everything you should've learned in the academy in a week though.**

 _Not helping Kurama._ Naruto groaned. _This is easy though. I'll just put this number in here and... Boom. You have around 6 different options of attack from these angles._

Meanwhile, Sasuke that was sitting a row ahead of them was writing away. Naruto's little tip had already allowed him to catch on the point of the test and his Sharingan was activated to copy every move of the person sitting next to him that was already finishing up his test. However, Sakura didn't move an inch and just stared at her test.

Naruto glanced at Sakura. _Why isn't she writing? Last time around, she actually knew all the answers without cheating!_

Noticing that Naruto was staring at her, Sakura gave the blonde a small smile and wrote something at the edge of her paper. She pushed her paper slightly his way so he could read the sentence. "Ino is gonna cheat off me so I'm gonna write fake answers and irritate her later."

The pink haired genin quickly erased the sentence and began writing a bunch of random numbers and sentences on her paper. Within 5 minutes, her paper was filled with what seemed to be reasonable answers, but completely different ones than the ones Naruto had written out. Almost immediately, Sakura went slack for a moment before picking up her paper and staring at it.

Realizing that Ino had activated her mind transfer jutsu, Naruto tapped on Sakura's (or Ino's) leg to annoy her. Sakura (or Ino) glared at him and turned her attention back to the paper. The poking continued however, and Sakura/Ino had enough and returned back to Ino's body. Sakura looked around as if she had just awakened from a deep sleep and grinned at Naruto. Shortly afterwards, she erased all her original answers and replaced them with the new and correct ones.

"Pencils down!" Ibiki shouted to the genins. "We will now move onto the tenth question! Listen carefully because what I am about to tell you is very important."

The scarred examiner gave a wicked grin to all the young students. "The tenth question is quite unique. You will get to have the choice of taking it or not taking it. If you don't take it, you automatically lose. But if you take it, there's a catch. If you take the tenth question and fail, you will never be allowed to take the chunin exams ever again!"

His statement was immediately bombarded with shouts and questions, but Ibiki raised his hand and silenced the room. "That means that if you take the tenth question and bomb it, you won't be able to become a chunin. Of course, if one of you drops out, your entire team has to drop out. So, I'm giving you the choice right now. If you want to drop, drop out now and take the test again next year."

Sakura elbowed Naruto in the ribs. "Are you going to shout your head off like last time, _baka?_ "

Naruto grinned in reply. "Not this time. It would help some people, but in the end our team is going to win so."

"You have that much confidence in our abilities?" Sakura nudged the boy further.

The blonde only grinned. 'We're the team to beat, Sakura. With our advanced knowledge and skills and Sasuke's growing abilities, we're literally the Golden Team. I would be surprised if we didn't all make chunin. And since we guaranteed that Orochimaru won't disrupt the final round, we'll get to see just how strong all of us are against each other."

"Thanks Naruto. That's really reassuring to me, but not to them." The pink haired ninja said as another team walked out.

"No problem!" Naruto chirped. "You know, if you do well, maybe Sasuke will actually notice you early on instead of ignoring you all the time."

As soon as she heard the word "Sasuke," she hung her head. _It seems like to Naruto, the word "Sakura" only goes together with "Sasuke."_

 _But I don't even like Sasuke anymore!_ Sakura cried in her head.

Inner Sakura grinned. _Do you or do you not? You're always confused and doubtful of everything. Besides, Naruto is never gonna figure that out by himself._

Before Sakura could beat herself up, Ibiki looked at the remaining genins and grinned. "60 students left, which means 20 teams. I'm impressed that some of you are still here. And with that, I congratulate all of you on passing the first test!

"Well, that test was easy." Naruto said with a grin. "The entire point of the test was to gather information, so basically cheat, without getting caught. I finished in like 10 minutes."

Ibiki glared at the blond ninja. "As the brat said, the point of the test was to test your information gathering skills. But the tenth question is the true purpose of the test. It is to see if you can make the Leap of Faith in order to succeed on missions and take risks. No matter what the danger, there are missions you simply can't avoid. The ability to be courageous and survive any hardship. These are the abilities needed to become a chunin captain."

"You all made it through the entrance exam. The first test of the chunin exam is now finished!" Ibiki shouted. "You guys look dead afraid. Relax, you just finished the first part!"

Just as the genins began to look a bit more relaxed, something flew through the windows and landed on the desk in the front of the room. The thing tossed two shurikens and swiftly made a banner that said "Congratulations" at the front. When the thing stopped in front of the other genins, all the genins could see that the thing was actually a woman with purple hair and a very revealing outfit. "I am the examiner for the second test! Mitarashi Anko! Now let's go!"

* * *

"This huge forest in front of us is Practice Area 44, also known as the Forest of Death!" Anko said cheerfully. "You'll soon find out why it's called the Forest of Death!"

Seeing that the group was relatively silent, she continued. "Now before we begin, there's something I have to pass out. These are waiver forms, meaning that you accept that anything may happen within the forest, including death."

"Basically the point of this test is a survival test. Your objective is to gather both a "Heaven" and "Earth" scroll and open them _only_ at the tower in order to pass the test. 10 teams will get the Heaven scroll and 10 teams will get the Earth scroll. Any jutsu and weapons are legal. As you might have already guessed, there will be only be a maximum 10 teams will move on to the next round. The time limit is 5 days which starts immediately after all teams enter."

"There are two ways to fail. The first way to fail is by not having two scrolls and reaching the tower by the end of the two days. The second way to fail is by losing a teammate or having a teammate die. Also, you can't quit in the middle of the exams. You must spend all 5 days in there even if you fail. And one last thing, do not ever look inside any of the scrolls unless you have both scrolls and you are at the tower with all your teammates. Failure to do so will result in a huge punishment. Now go choose a gate and prepare to begin the Second Stage of the Exam."

"By the way, here's a word of advice." Anko said as she walked away. "Don't die."

Team 7 grabbed their Heaven scroll from the booth and made it to Gate 12. Naruto grinned at his teammates. "Let's set the record for the fastest time to the tower. I heard the Legendary Sannin team has the current record by making it through in 4 hours."

"4 hours?" Sasuke echoed. "We'll beat this part of the exam in three."

Sakura cracked her knuckles. "Now is the time to show the others what Team Seven is all about, right?"

"Naruto, use your sensory abilities to detect where the nearest team is." Sasuke told the blonde.

Nartuo closed his eyes and channeled his chakra. "We have two teams near us. One is about a fourth of a kilometer west from us and the other one is about a third of a kilometer north east of us. I think the west one is the better choice." He silently nodded to Sakura.

"Let's go for the west one, since it's closer." Sakura said, slightly nodding back. "We'll tire ourselves out less that way."

They immediately ran towards west towards the team that Naruto had sensed, their excitement only growing as they approached their targets. _Gaara, I'm coming for you..._

* * *

Team 7 landed directly in front of the team, stopping them in their tracks. All three members looked up to see the Suna team that they had encountered earlier standing in front of them.

"Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke." Gaara said coldly. "The two ninjas from the Leaf that I wanted to kill. Mother will be satisfied with the two of you."

Naruto stared at his old friend (or friend in the other time line) and raised his kunai. _Kurama, get ready. Once my team defeats him, I'll need you to beat Shukaku in to his senses and tell him to stop corrupting Gaara._

 **You got it brat, just take Shukaku's jinchuuriki down.** Kurama replied.

"I would like to see you try and kill us." Naruto replied. "I promise you, it won't be that easy."

Sasuke smirked as he stood right next to the blonde. "What's the plan, _dobe_?"

"I'll take out Gaara while you take out Temari and Sakura takes out Kankuro." Naruto answered. "Temari uses her fan to create winds so it should be fairly straightforward with you and Sakura can destroy anything with her punches so she should be able to keep the puppets out of the picture. Gaara is powerful, but I should be able to beat him somehow."

"I don't exactly like fighting a girl, but I'll defeat her quickly and help you against Gaara." Sasuke replied.

Sakura nodded. "I will too. I'll smash those puppets to pieces."

The pink haired and raven haired ninjas rushed forward at their enemies while Naruto stared calmly at Gaara. "Good to see you again, Gaara."

"Uzumaki, stay still and allow mother to have your blood!" Sand immediately came rushing towards Naruto, who only dodged the attack with ease and began to form handseals.

" _Futon: Kamikaze (Wind Release: Divine Winds)!_ "

The light breeze in the air turned into a hurricane as it moved towards Gaara. The sand ninja blocked the attack with his sand, but Naruto was nowhere near done.

As Gaara attempted to immobilize Naruto with his sand, Naruto immediately jumped up and carried out another jutsu. " _Suiton: Suihou no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Cannon Technique)!_ "

A power water beam shot out of Naruto's mouth as he parried the sand attack and propelled himself into the air. " _Futon: Kazekiri no Jutsu (Wind Release: Wind Cutter)!"_

Using his chakra, Naruto made several powerful wind blades that struck Gaara's sand straight on. The blades manage to slice the sand wall in half, but the sand instantly reappeared and swirled around Gaara.

Even then, Gaara was not fazed. He quickly shot his hand up to slam Naruto with another pillar of sand. Naruto quickly used the _Kawiarimi no Jutsu (Substitution Jutsu)_ in order to dodge the attack. He quickly counter attacked, forming rapid hand seals. " _Doton: Doryuudan no Jutsu (Earth Style: Earth Dragon Blast)!"_

A large dragon head erupted from the ground and shot solid earth balls at Gaara. The sand user erected a dome to protect himself and the shots deflected off the dome. Naruto wasn't surprised at Gaara's power, as he knew his friend had always been quite powerful.

"Uzumaki... Your blood will be delicious... Mother will enjoy your blood!" Gaara drawled.

A huge wave of sand rushed towards Naruto again as he rapidly erected a barrier. " _Doton: Iwane Wooru! (Earth Release:Rock Wall)!"_

Instantly, a large rock wall was erected in front of Naruto. However, the sand slowly began to crack the walls, putting immense pressure on the hastily constructed rock wall. Naruto braced himself as the wall shattered and the sand sped towards him. " _Suiton: Suijinheki (Water Release: Water Barrier)!"_

Water wrapped around Naruto and the sand was unable to penetrate the surface this time. Naruto gritted his teeth as the sand literally _pounded_ on the walls of his barrier.

Suddenly, the sand began to surround the barrier as Gaara raised his hand up. " _Sabaku Kyu (Sand Binding Coffin)!"_

 _What? He can trap me in the sand coffin while I have a barrier up?_ Naruto slightly panicked as the sand slowly encased him and his barrier.

" _Suiton: Suihou no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Cannon Technique)!"_

"Die!" Gaara screamed as he closed his fist. Instantly, the sand crushed anything within its walls. However, there was no blood coming out from the coffin.

"Looking for me?" Naruto asked as he stood behind Gaara. "I used the Water Cannon Technique in order to drill a hole into the ground and use the Head Hunter jutsu to dig my way to escape. You're strong, but not strong enough to beat me."

 _I'm running low on chakra... I need to end this quickly._ Naruto thought. _Gaara is definitely strong, but I didn't expect him to be **this** strong in his current form. _

Before Gaara could make a move, Naruto already made the handseals for another jutsu. " _Doton: Wareme Souzou_ _(Earth Release: Chasm Creation)!"_

A giant chasm appeared right below Gaara as some of his sand slid into the chasm while the remaining sand around him quickly formed a bridge to prevent Gaara from falling in.

The son of the Yellow Flash formed an orb in his hand quickly and charged at Gaara. "This is the end! _Rasengan!_ "

Naruto sped towards Gaara at high speed, the Rasengan swirling rapidly in his hand. Gaara put up his sand for his ultimate defense, but sand was already quite scattered and the Rasengan broke through much of the resistance.

Gaara's eyes widened as the Rasengan struck him, breaking his sand armor and actually hurting his physical body. He screamed his pain as the Rasengan struck him in the stomach and blew him backwards.

 **Now, Naruto! I need to make contact with him!**

 _You got it Kurama!_ Naruto replied in his head. He approached Gaara, who was still laying on the ground in pain, and clamped his shoulder with his hand. _Let's do this_.

* * *

Naruto immediately entered an empty desert, with nothing around him but Gaara, who was in front of him.

"Gaara." Naruto curtly nodded. "I just want to talk."

"Why can't I use my sand?!" Gaara screamed. "Mother! Why can't I hear mother?"

The blonde shook his head. "Because we're in your mind, Gaara. We're in a spiritual world, in a sense."

"I will kill you right after this, Uzumaki. Do not take me lightly." Gaara threatened.

Naruto laughed. "Gaara, I'm not the enemy. I'm a jinchuuriki like you are."

"You... Are also a jinchuuriki?" Gaara asked the blond boy.

"I am. I have the Nine Tails sealed inside of me. I know you have the One Tails instead of you, and he's the one that's been corrupting your mind and claiming to be your mother." Naruto replied. "Kurama, it's time."

Kurama appeared behind Naruto and looked down at Gaara, who looked quite shocked at the sudden appearance of the Nine Tails. **So. You must be the host of my brother, Shukaku. Shukaku, come out now or I'll bring you out.**

The form of the One Tails appeared behind Gaara. **So... Brother. It looks like you've partnered up with a human? I thought you hated humans with a passion.**

 **This human has earned by respect and trust.** Kurama growled. **Meanwhile, you've been using your human to kill for you. I have to say, I am not too pleased with your actions. You see, your host happens to be Naruto's beloved friend in the future.**

 **In the future?** Shukaku replied, confused at the sentence.

Kurama slowly nodded. **My host and I are from the future. At least, our memories were transported back from the future to the past. Now I suggest you listen if you don't want to be sucked up and be forced to become part of the Ten Tails again.**

The Nine Tails looked at the One Tails and spat out an orb from his mouth. Kurama handed the orb to One Tails, who swallowed it. Instantly, Shukaku looked at Kurama and Naruto differently. **I see... If you have this much respect and faith in your human, perhaps I will do the same with mine.**

 **Trust me, it's so much nicer letting them borrow your power and releasing yourself.** Kurama said as he turned to Naruto. **Shukaku won't bother your friend Kit. If anything, he will work with your friend to help him become stronger.**

"So he'll be able to use the cloak and everything?" Naruto asked.

 **It'll be a little different. Gaara is already subconsciously using Shukaku's chakra and power. Shukaku is the one strengthening Gaara's sand strength, allowing him to have that "ultimate defense." Your friend will still be able to do this, but he'll also be able to have a different style of cloak and chakra.**

Naruto clapped his hands. "Perfect. Now I can talk to him calmly."

Gaara looked confused as Naruto approached him. "You can control your Nine Tails that easily?"

"Kurama." Naruto replied dryly. "He doesn't like the name Nine Tails. Your tailed beast's name is Shukaku. He won't affect your mind again and will work with you from now on, at least I hope."

Kurama gave out a snarl. **If he doesn't, I'll force him and make sure that he does.**

"Your tailed beast just said something about being from the future... What does he mean?" The red haired boy questioned the blonde, his eyes looking a bit calmer than before.

"Just like he said, Kurama and I come from the future. We used a forbidden jutsu to travel back in time in order to change the future. Let's just say that in the future, there's a lot of wars and deaths that can be avoided." Naruto shrugged. "And in that future, you're my best and closest friend. We met after the chunin exam under some really unfortunate conditions, but that can change now."

"Gaara, let us be friends. You're a really nice guy in the inside and I'm sure you can be a nice guy on the outside. Show some more love and respect to others and you can break free from your loneliness. I'll help you every step of the way and together, we can save the future."

The blonde held out his hand towards Gaara, who hesitated but shook it. For the first time in years, the sand demon gave a faint smile. "Thank you... Naruto. If we have more time in the future, then I'll like to learn a bit more about my future self. It's really surprising and confusing after all."

"Shukaku will help you, since we gave him all the memories we have of you to him." Naruto answered. "But now is probably not the best time to chit chat."

Gaara nodded. "Let us return back to reality then."

* * *

Both Gaara and Naruto awakened back into reality and looked around. Temari was clearly losing to Sasuke while one of Kankuro's puppets was already broken and smashed on the floor. Gaara's siblings looked worn out while Naruto's teammates looked only slightly tired. Before they could fight each other again, Gaara stood in between them.

"Temari. Kankuro. Give them our scroll." Gaara said sternly.

The blond haired girl looked at her brother in shock. "What? But Gaara..."

Gaara frowned. "Just give it to them. Please."

Shocked at hearing the last word, Temari nodded as she pulled out the team's Earth scroll and tossed it to Sasuke. "Keep it. We'll find two scrolls elsewhere."

As they all prepared to part ways, Naruto gave Gaara an awkward one armed embrace. "Take care Gaara. Try not to kill anyone in the forest. I'll wait for your arrival back at the central tower."

"Thanks Naruto." Gaara replied. "I won't hurt my enemies too much..."

Naruto nodded as he and his team sped away towards the tower. Gaara turned back to his siblings, who were still staring at him with shocked expressions. He had a slight headache from all the sudden information that Shukaku was pouring into his head, but he had picked out the important bits of this time period.

"Are you ok, Gaara?" Temari asked as Gaara winced.

Gaara gave her a small smile, which looked slightly out of place on Gaara's usual impassive face. "I'm fine, thank you for asking though. After we finish this exam, we need to warn Baki."

"About what?" Kankuro asked quietly, as if he was surprised at his brother's change in tone and attitude.

"To cancel the invasion of Konoha. Father is dead."

* * *

"Say Naruto." Sakura whispered to Naruto, just out of the Uchiha's ear shot. "Do you think the Hokage has dealt with Orochimaru yet?"

Naruto shrugged. "He promised that he would heighten security during this round and keep an eye out for all the Sound and Grass teams. Let's just hope that he doesn't appear in the forest."

Suddenly, Naruto jumped backwards to avoid a kunai that had struck the tree branch that he had been sitting on. Team 7 halted as they spotted a new group of enemies standing in front of them. Three Sound ninjas came in front of them with confidence.

"What luck! We found Sasuke-kun and his team." The lead Sound ninja announced. "We'll kill all three of you and take your scrolls."

All three members took up battle position as the members of Team Seven replied with a smirk. "I would like to see you try."

* * *

 **Cao510:** I thought it would be an interesting twist if Inari became a ninja. He does have the ninja spirit after all. He only has Kurama within him and he can make the Rasenshuriken still.

 **Yojimbra:** Thanks! And yeah I'll tone down "Shannaro!"

 **Kathryn518:** I usually upload a chapter and then edit it for any errors. Though if you want to beta read it, I will gladly take up the offer. And thank you :)

 **Doomstrider96:** Well, anything is a possibility now. So yes, it is possible that it may be Naruto facing Gaara in the preliminaries or whatever.

 **maxslayer10:** I mean, Sakura hasn't said anything and Naruto hasn't noticed anything since he's that dense. Even Sasuke knows that Sakura is closer to Naruto then himself. As for Naruto vs Kabuto, I doubt Naruto will nearly die since he's much stronger this time around.

 **Guess007:** But it took Minato literally years to perfect the Rasengan. It isn't exactly a simple jutsu and Sakura isn't a wind user, so it'll be extra hard for her. I'm not against the idea of Sakura going with Naruto and Jiraya to study though. That sounds certainly interesting!

 **XxloverxnotxaxfighterxX:** I hated fangirl Sakura since it felt so stupid and made her such a cliche female character falling for the good looking emo guy. And the relationship between Sakura and Sasuke wasn't exactly healthy either.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN:** Winter break! I'll probably try to update as much as I can, but no promises.

We now continue our story that is currently taking place in the Forest of Death. Will Orochimaru make an appearance? What will eventually happen to the Sound ninjas? Just how powerful is Team 7 anyways?

Edit: Since some of you believed that the fight scene between Naruto and Gaara was too short (and had Gaara look extremely weak), I have edited and adjusted the fight scene. Any comments or criticism is welcome!

* * *

"Don't make this anymore difficult than it already is." The lead Sound ninja said. "Either you die quickly and let your teammates survive, or I kill you and your teammates. You choose."

Sasuke briefly glanced back at his teammates, but both of them were shaking their heads. Naruto gave a small grin to the Uchiha. "We'll beat the crap out of them. Don't worry."

"The blonde seems to be cockier than the Uchiha. How stupid." The female Sound ninja said.

The Sound ninja with the spiky hair gave a malicious smile to the members of Team Seven. "My name is Zaku, and I'll make sure that you'll never forget that name... If you manage to live of course."

Naruto was slightly fatigued and tired after the fight against Gaara, but he knew that he still had plenty of chakra for another battle. "If you want to fight so badly, then attack us first."

A senbon was thrown at Naruto, who dodged the sharp needle easily. The sole female of the Sound team smiled. "Don't get too cocky because you dodged one of my senbons. Before we kill you, you should at least know my name. I'm Kin, and the other ninja on our team is Dosu, our team leader."

Dosu, the ninja with bandages wrapped around his face, landed in front of the members of Team Seven. "My teammates have said enough. We will save Sasuke-kun for last. Kill the other two first."

"You got it." Zaku rushed forward with his palms facing towards Sakura and Naruto. " _Zankuha (Decapitating Air Waves)!_ "

A blast of air rushed towards the duo and forced the two to dive to the ground and dodge the attack. The air wave created a trench in the ground as Zaku poised his arms for another attack. However, this time the duo were ready and anticipated the attack.

" _Fuuton: Reppusho (Wind Release: Violent Wind Palm)!_ " Naruto pushed his hand forward, forming a powerful windstorm that pushed against the Decapitating Air Waves attack.

Zaku's grin slightly faded as his _Zankuha_ was countered by the blond's wind jutsu. "Impossible! My Decapitating Air Waves is the strongest!"

"Not strong enough to beat through my jutsu." Naruto replied with his focus still on the jutsu. His windstorm grew stronger as it pushed against the Decapitating Air Waves.

The windstorm almost reached the cocky Sound ninja, but Zaku closed his eyes and pushed his hands out further. " _Zankukyokuha (Extreme Decapitating Air Waves)!"_

Suddenly, the air waves from Zaku's hands increased as it countered Naruto's wind jutsu. The winds of both ninjas looked fairly even, but Naruto turned his head and shouted at Sakura. "Now!"

" _Doton: Doro Domu (Earth Release: Earth Prison Dome of Magnificient Nothingness)!"_

Sakura launched herself into the air and landed near Zaku, who couldn't react to her in time due to Naruto's wind jutsu. Before Zaku could attempt to counter her, Sakura raised an Earth dome around the Sound ninja. She placed her hand on the dome as it fully encompassed the ninja.

Even though the dome was completely enclosed, everyone could feel the vibration as the ninja within attempted to break out. Sakura only pouted as she talked to Zaku. "I suggest you don't do that. This dome drains your chakra when you're inside and gives it to me. The dome is self repairing and almost impossible to break. You'll tire out faster if you keep on using your chakra."

Regardless of her words, the dome kept on vibrating. Naruto looked at Sakura with slight concern, but the pink haired waved him away. "I'm fine. Just take care of the other two."

Naruto nodded and turned to Sasuke. " _Teme,_ take out their leader. Leave the girl up to me."

"I didn't want to fight a girl anyways." Sasuke replied as he approached Dosu.

Before Sasuke could fight, Naruto grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. "Idiot, you almost forgot this."

The blond ninja handed his friend a pair of small objects. The Uchiha looked at them and slipped them in his ears. "Ah right. Almost forgot."

"Just beat the hell out of him, but don't kill him." Naruto said as he walked away.

Sasuke gave a smirk to the bandaged ninja. "You should be honored that I'm going to defeat you."

The bandaged Sound ninja grinned under his layers of cloth. "I would like to see you try, Uchiha."

" _Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Fireball_ _Jutsu)!_ " Sasuke replied to the comment with his signature fire jutsu.

Dosu brought out his right arm as he made hand seals with his left arm. " _Kyomeisen (Resonating Echo Drill)!"_

Despite the fireball's massive size, the Sound ninja's jutsu sliced through the fireball. Sasuke immediately continued the fight. "Your jutsu is interesting, but I will still beat you."

" _Raiton: Raikou Kousen no Jutsu (Lightning Release:Lightning Beam Technique)!_ "

A large beam of lightning appeared from Sasuke's hands as he directed the intense beam to the bandaged ninja. Dosu dove out of the way, but Sasuke guided the beam to follow the Sound ninja. The beam grazed the sound ninja's metal right arm and electrocuted him, making the leader of the Sound team vibrate and collapse.

"That metal piece on your right arm really doesn't help you against lightning users." Sasuke said as he walked over to the fallen ninja.

Instead of staying unconscious, Dosu immediately began to rise and poised himself for another attack. "I was waiting for you to come closer, Sasuke-kun. I told you not to be cocky. My arm is made of stainless steel, which doesn't conduct electricity at all."

" _Onpai o Funsai (Shattering Sound Waves)!"_

Sasuke immediately fell over due to the jutsu manipulating sound waves to cause pain in the ear and nausea to the victim. However, he slowly rose despite the continuation of the attack, which caused Dosu to stare at the Uchiha in surprise.

"How?"

"Simple. Chakra ear plugs." Sasuke pointed at his ears. "Once you began that attack, I immediately channeled some chakra into the ear plugs. It completely blocks off my ears and prevents anything from entering. By the way, I can't hear what you're saying right now."

" _Raiton: Yusuburu Kasugai no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Jolt Clamp)!_ "

Lightning flashed out of Sasuke's hand as it shaped into a coil and wrapped itself around Dosu's left arm. When Sasuke gripped his hand, the coil electrified the Sound ninja's arm and continued to do so until the sound waves stopped.

"Gaah!" Dosu screamed as the lightning coil didn't let go and continued to electrify him. His right arm didn't conduct electricity, but his left arm was still vulnerable to electric attacks.

The attack didn't stop till Dosu dropped and collapsed onto the ground. For good measures, Sasuke made sure that he stayed down. " _Raiton: Raikou Hitofuki no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Lightning Blast Technique)!_ "

A lightning bolt struck the Sound ninja, who slightly shuddered at the shock and remained face down on the ground. Sasuke pulled out his ear plugs and bound the unconscious ninja with a rope. He also placed an explosive tag on the Sound ninja's right arm in the case that he woke up.

"Good to see you finally finishing up." Naruto said as Sasuke turned around to face him. The blonde laid down the girl's unconscious form next to her teammate. "I already knocked the girl out. She's skilled, but my wind jutsu blew her senbons away and I used the Head Hunter jutsu to immobilize her."

Sasuke shook his head. "You're using your Head Hunter jutsu too much, _dobe_. You should stop using it."

Naruto scratched his cheeks. "It's an easy and fun jutsu. Besides, the look of surprise on people's faces when they're hit with the jutsu is priceless."

"While you two were having fun fighting, I had to deal with this idiot trying to pound his way out of my Earth Prison jutsu." The pink haired ninja said with irritation in her voice. She nearly threw down the spiky haired ninja next to the two other Sound ninjas.

"How did he become unconscious? I don't see any bruises on him, which means that you didn't punch him..." Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "He knocked himself out. The _baka_ used too much chakra in my prison and I drained too much chakra from him. He collapsed because of chakra exhaustion and I had to free him from the prison."

"We're almost to the tower, so let's hurry up. After all, we're after the record of finishing the fastest." Sasuke said to his teammates.

"Wait! Before we go, let me just do this." Naruto replied as he pulled a pin, releasing a small firecracker into the sky. It didn't explode, but left a small red dot over their position. "It's for the examiners. The unconscious bodies are removed from the forest and sent to the hospital." That part wasn't necessarily true, but it was a reasonable lie to get the Sound team out of the forest and the exam. Naruto knew of their fate and requested them to be heavily guarded until the situation with Orochimaru was over.

The raven haired boy gave a small grin at Naruto. "I hope Kakashi sensei is watching us right now, since he should be preparing enough money for our team meals."

Naruto nodded. "Alright, the examiners will be here soon. Let's go."

* * *

"Hey! Oh wait, Naruto? You're done with the exams already?" Iruka asked as he was summoned in front of them.

The blond haired ninja smiled. "Yep! We beat the Sannin team's record! We finished the test in Two and a half hours!"

Iruka stared at his former pupil as his jaw dropped. "What? Two and a half hours? How?"

"We only beat up two teams." Naruto answered.

"Two ninjas for each of us." Sasuke added.

The Chunin instructor could only shake his head. "Well then... I congratulate your team on finishing the second part of the Chunin exams. I'll need to tell the Hokage about this. My former students beat the Legendary Sannin team's record and are on the road to become chunins!"

"Thanks Iruka sensei. So what do we do now?" Naruto asked.

Iruka sheepishly smiled. "Well... We were supposed to have sleeping quarters available for you by tomorrow, but we didn't expect any of you to finish within hours. I'll just tell the examiners to have you go back home for tonight and you can come back tomorrow. In fact, I'll take you guys out to ramen right now! Bet all three of you are hungry even though you've been in there for only two and a half hours."

All three genins thanked their former sensei as they followed him through a secret tunnel. The tunnel was dark and was only illuminated by a few torches. "This place is really dark and damp, Iruka sensei. Where does it lead to?"

"It leads to an alley near the Academy, Naruto." Iruka explained. "Basically, during civilian evacuations, we have these tunnels set up to help the civilians go to a secured location. Since the Forest of Death is filled with natural obstacles like giant creatures and trees, it's an easy place to defend and evacuate the citizens to. We also use these tunnels during the chunin exams to get out of the center tower secretly."

After running for some time, the team finally reached the end of the tunnel. "And here we are!"

Team 7 followed Iruka sensei as they went to the usual Ichiraku's Ramen shop. Teuchi, the owner of the shop, beamed when he saw Naruto. "My number one costumer! And you brought your teacher and teammates back too! What can I get you?"

"Give me pork ramen for me and my friends, old man! My team just passed the second round of the chunin exam and we set the record for the fastest time!" Naruto shouted eagerly.

Teuchi gave his favorite customer a thumbs up. "That's great Naruto! For that, free ramen for everyone tonight! Eat up and enjoy!"

As Teuchi was busy making ramen and Sasuke was (surprisingly) talking to Iruka silently, Naruto and Sakura lowered their voices and whispered to each other. "I didn't see Orochimaru during the second round. I know that Lord Hokage was planning to confront him, but is it possible that we didn't encounter him because we finished the exams really fast?"

Naruto shrugged. "I'm not sure. I think we faced Orochimaru a couple hours in to the second test, but I don't remember exactly when we faced him. We'll need to ask _jiji_ about this."

* * *

 _1 Hour Earlier inside the Forest of Death_

"Your actions against the Leaf stops here, Orochimaru." Sarutobi said sternly to the Snake Sannin.

Orochimaru hissed at his former teacher. "You have already discovered me sensei... I'm impressed."

The Hokage grinned. "It certainly helps that your spy Kabuto has already informed me of everything. I'll most likely overlook the spying he did for you during these past years, but you will be arrested and tried for your crimes."

"Kabuto has defected to you? Impossible!" Orochimaru shouted. "How much did he reveal?"

"You will never know, since your life will end here!" The Third Hokage declared as he threw away his robes and revealed his battle armor.

Orochimaru yelled as he charged at his former sensei while the Third prepared to fight him head on...

* * *

 _Present_

"Let's have a team sleepover at my apartment!" Naruto announced to his teammates. "It'll be a great team experience!"

"Hn." The Uchiha answered. "I think I have some important work to do back at..."

Naruto punched his arm. "You always have a stick up your ass _teme_. Sakura, you're definitely coming right?"

The pink haired kunoichi turned pink at the question. "Staying at your apartment, alone with you?"

"For now I guess. But I'm sure Sasuke will get his head out of the ground and come with us." Naruto replied.

"Uh..." Sakura said.

 _Oh just say yes. You get to spend more time with him! Besides you'll be in his apartment! Won't that be fun?_ Inner Sakura whispered.

"SHUT UP!" Sakura shouted as her two teammates looked at her strangely. "Sorry, there's been a fly that has been bothering me and it keeps buzzing around my ear."

 _I'll stop if you just go with him. If Sasuke doesn't come, maybe it's your lucky day!_ Inner Sakura teased.

Sakura silently groaned as she turned back to the blonde. "I'll come. Besides, we need to head out as a team tomorrow morning. Might as well stay together in one place."

"Fine... I'll bring some basic supplies to spend the night at Naruto's apartment. Just explain to me where it is and I'll be there soon." Sasuke replied.

"I need to head home anyways to tell my parents, so I'll just head over to the Uchiha district after I talk to them. I know where Naruto lives." Sakura said.

The blonde gave his teammates a grin. "Perfect! Then I'll see you two soon!"

Sasuke and Sakura went on their ways as Naruto strolled down the street back to his apartment. Suddenly, an ANBU agent landed in front of him. "Lord Hokage requests your presence immediately. It seemed urgent, so I would go there immediately."

"Alright, I'll be on my way."

* * *

"Well did you kill the creepy snake dude _jiji_?" Naruto asked the Hokage who was still in his battle armor.

Sarutobi shook his head. "Unfortunately not. Orochimaru is very powerful and I will definitely need help on defeating him. It seems like he bought into the ruse that Kabuto has defected to us and that we are already aware of his plans. He will most likely back off from the chunin exam and wait for another opportunity to strike. Even though I didn't kill him, he should be injured and worn out for now."

"It's fine _jiji_. I'll help you the next time you face him. I'm just glad that snake bastard won't come after Sasuke for some time. It'll give us time to become stronger." Naruto answered. "What did you do with the Sound ninjas?"

"They're in the Konoha hospital under heavy ANBU guard. Anko herself is watching them, since Orochimaru might attempt to kill them. I'm trusting what you said about them." The Hokage replied.

The son of the Fourth Hokage nodded firmly. "The Sound ninjas aren't really bad. They're loyal to Orochimaru right now, but once we reveal that they were just pawns for him, I'm sure that they can possibly join the Leaf. Better than having one die by Gaara and the other two be used as sacrifices for the Reanimation jutsu."

"They will be safe for now. I trust Anko and the ANBU agents to carry out their duties." Sarutobi assured the blond boy.

"By the way, did you hear that I finished the second round in two and a half hours?" Naruto announced to the village's leader.

The Third Hokage gave a weary smile. "Yes, I have. Perhaps your team will be even more legendary than the Sannin team."

Naruto smiled. "Thanks _jiji_. Now there's just the preliminary round and the final round remaining. Since I've already made some changes, I wonder who I will be facing this time around?"

"Since there will no longer be any attacks during the final round, I wonder who will become the ultimate victor during the finals?"

The blonde snorted. " _Jiji_ , I think you already know the answer to that one."

Lord Third smoked his pipe. "Perhaps I do... If you defeat your opponent in the preliminary round, I will allow you to have a scroll that contains the works of your father. It will most likely be difficult for you to learn, but it is possible that you can copy his technique instead of fully understanding everything."

"You got yourself a deal old man." Naruto replied. "You better be ready to give me that scroll, because there is no way in hell I'm losing."

* * *

Sasuke and Sakura stood at the doorway of Naruto's apartment as they awaited for someone to open the door. After waiting a few seconds, Naruto opened the door and smiled. "Welcome to my apartment!"

"This is certainly different than what I expected." Sasuke said as he entered. The apartment was bright and clean, without any trash and dirty clothes on the floor. Sasuke envisioned the apartment to be a little dirtier than what was in front of him, but he wasn't complaining as he walked around the flat curiously.

Naruto waved at them as they came in. "I had my clones clean up the place and slightly remodel it to make it look nicer. Not bad for an apartment, right?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Better than I expected, I suppose. Where do you want us to sleep?"

"Sakura can have the bed, you'll sleep on the couch, and I'll sleep on the floor." Naruto responded as he set up a blanket next to the couch.

"Hn. I'll take the floor. You can sleep on the couch, _dobe_." Sasuke said as he tossed his bag onto the floor.

"Naruto, it's your house... You should take the bed." Sakura suggested as she gradually slid closer and closer to the couch.

Naruto shook his head. "It's my house so I make the rules. You're taking the bed."

The pink kunoichi considered punching him in the head, but lowered her fist and sighed. "Fine, I'll take the bed."

"Good night then." Sasuke grumbled as he laid down on the blankets and closed his eyes.

Sakura and Naruto stared at the Uchiha that was sprawled out on the floor. The owner of the apartment only scratched his cheeks. "You're just going to sleep right away?"

"I'm tired." Sasuke simply replied. "I have to spend the next four days with you two so I would rather rest today and deal with you tomorrow."

Naruto rolled his eyes as Sasuke went to sleep. "Well, what do you want to do Sakura? "

After making sure that Sasuke was asleep, she grabbed Naruto's arm and dragged him into his room. As the door shut behind the two, Sasuke opened one eye and smirked as he slowly rose from his position and peeked into the room through a small opening on the door.

"Has the Hokage told you anything?" Sakura asked silently.

"Orochimaru isn't dead." Naruto said gravely. "But he's wounded and _jiji_ lied to Orochimaru about Kabuto being our double spy, so Orochimaru most likely won't attack during the exam again."

Sakura was slightly relieved, but at the same time worried. "This will make it harder for us to predict future events. But for now, we still have Sasuke with us."

"He's changed a bit since last time too, I think." Naruto imputed. "A bit more friendlier to us, a little less arrogant too."

"Hopefully the future stays a little brighter than last time." Sakura said.

Naruto nodded. "The future is already changing, Sakura. I'm sure _jiji_ won't die this time around. Sasuke won't defect without Orochimaru tempting him out. And there's probably a lot more changes that we've made so far that we haven't realized."

Sakura bit her lower lip. "Right. For now, we should only focus on becoming chunins so we can go on missions freely. Should we tell Sasuke about what we know?"

"No. Maybe in the future, but he's not ready for that type of information yet. We should tell him after its clear that he's loyal to the village. Orochimaru might try to seduce him with power in the future, so we should still be careful."

Outside the door Sasuke scrunched his ears as close as he could to the door and attempted to listen to the conversation. Unfortunately for him, the two were whispering and their voices were almost inaudible. "Looks like I'll have to resort to this then. Sharingan!"

His eyes instantly became red as he began to read the lip movements of Sakura, who was facing his direction. _"_ _Should we tell Sasuke about what we know?" So they are hiding something from me..._

The Uchiha's curiosity only grew. _Just what are they hiding from me? Is it related to the fact that they've gotten stronger and smarter?_

For now, Sasuke went to sleep. But he wanted answers _soon_.

* * *

Someone cleared their throat as Sakura groggily woke up from her sleep. "Get a room you two... I mean you two are already in a room by yourselves, but you should do this when I'm not here."

Sakura slowly opened her eyes to see Sasuke standing over her. She was confused by what she said until she turned her head, and immediately saw a boy with a mess of blond hair laying down next to her. He was lightly snoring and muttering in his sleep, but he seemed very comfortable laying next to her. Then it struck her like lightning, the two were sleeping in the same bed and were touching.

The pink kunoichi turned pink and shot out of bed immediately as she tried to recall what had happened last night. She had talked to Naruto for hours before both of them became tired and fell asleep. Sakura guessed that Naruto was tired and passed out on his own bed, the very bed that he had offered for her.

Sasuke looked at her strangely. "I knew you two might have been a couple, but you sleep with each other now too?"

"We're not a couple!" Sakura waved her hand furiously. "And this was an accident! It's not what it looks like!"

"Hn." Sasuke gave a rather un-Sasuke like grin at the girl.

She struck both Sasuke and Naruto with a single blow to the head. "Shut up! And wake up you _baka!_ "

Sasuke was flung out the window and Naruto woke up with a new bruise on his head. The blonde looked up to the pink haired girl in horror. "Sakura?"

"You didn't go back to the couch and we, uhm, slept on the same bed." Sakura replied. "And Sasuke saw us."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Sorry! I was really tired and I just sorta passed out. I'll tell Sasuke that there's nothing between us."

"I already told him. It's fine..." Sakura told the blonde, who nodded and left the room to shower.

She bit her lips as she looked at the spot they were sleeping together just minutes before. She knew that she didn't mind that moment at all, but she couldn't bring herself to admit it. Something just felt, _reassuring_ being next to him. Being with him for 5 consecutive years was probably part of it, but Inner Sakura knew that there was something more to it...

* * *

Team 7 made their way back into the tower when the sun rose. They successfully sneaked their way in again using the secret tunnel near the academy and arrived just on time to see Gaara and his team arrive at the tower.

"Gaara!" Naruto shouted excitedly as he rushed to the Sand ninja's side. "You finished!"

The red haired ninja attempted to smile, but the smile looked like a frightening scowl. "You finished already, Naruto?"

"Yep! Finished yesterday. We beat the chunin exam record and got here two and a half hours after we started." Naruto replied.

"That's good to hear. We're the second ones here. The others haven't arrived yet." Gaara said. "After losing our scroll to your team, we managed to defeat two teams before the sun went up."

Naruto grinned at the Sand ninja. "I knew you could do it! You're a powerful shinobi, after all."

Gaara gave the blonde an awkward pat on his shoulder. "Thanks, Naruto."

As Gaara walked away, Kankuro approached Naruto and shook his hand. "I just want to say thank you. Whatever you did, it has calmed down Gaara and he doesn't threaten to kill us anymore."

"It's no problem. He's a friend, so I'll do anything for him." Naruto replied.

The puppeteer stared at the Leaf ninja. "But you met him only a few days ago."

Naruto shrugged. "It's a long story."

Kankuro only nodded and walked away with his other siblings. Naruto turned to his teammates, who were looking a bit impatient due to the long chit chat.

"Sorry guys. Let's go to our lodges and go on from there." Naruto said sheepishly.

"I have a feeling it's going to be very boring for the next few days." Sasuke said as Team 7 headed towards their assigned lodges.

* * *

Sasuke's words proved to be correct as the teams that have finished were forced to stay in or around their quarters for the last 4 days. Since the area wasn't that big, training using jutsu was out of the question and the ninjas resorted to physical exercises to keep themselves in shape. Over the course of 4 days, various teams began to arrive at the tower one by one. All the rookie teams had made it to the tower in one piece, along with Gai's team and a team from Amegakure. However, Kabuto's team never appeared at the tower. Naruto knew that Team Dosu was under heavy guard at the hospital, but suspected that Kabuto either failed the test or was killed by Orochimaru. The blond ninja suspected the latter, but hoped for the former. Kabuto may have been a spy, but he wasn't a totally evil being like Orochimaru.

Before Naruto knew it, 4 days had gone by and he was standing in line with the 5 other teams that had passed. They all had their eyes on the Leaf jounin with the bandana in front of them.

"I am Hayate Gekko, your proctor the next part of the chunin exams." The sickly jounin coughed before he continued. "Before we move onto the final round, we will have a preliminary round in order to decrease the amount of participants by half. All of you are very talented and strong enough to have reached this point. However, the final round will have delegates from many different nations attending, so only the best are expected to compete in front of them. Additionally, we do not have time for a dozen rounds, so we will decide the genins that will move onto the final round today."

"The scoreboard will now announce the genins that will fight in the first round of the preliminary."

Almost instantly, two names flashed on the scoreboard.

 **Sakura Haruno vs Choji Akimichi**

"Go get him Sakura!" Naruto yelled as Sakura jumped down into the arena.

On the other side of the arena, Asuma was arguing with the Akimichi heir in an attempt to persuade him to fight. "10 free meals at the barbecue place if you fight."

"15!" The chubby boy replied.

Asuma sighed. "12. And if you win, I'll buy you free meals for the rest of the month."

Suddenly, Choji's eyes were filled with determination. "Now we're talking!"

Before the proctor could say "Begin," Choji already began his set of hand seals " _Baika no Jutsu!_ "

The boy expanded into a giant ball and began rolling towards Sakura. "Sorry Sakura! But I need to get my free meals!"

Sakura grinned. "I'm sorry Choji, but I have to win."

She pounded her fist into the floor and caused a ramp to appear, making the spinning Akimichi fly into the air. The ball crashed into the other side of the arena, but the human cannonball kept on spinning and immediately began to accelerate towards the pink kunoichi.

"Seems like you won't go down easily then. _Doton: Doryu Taiga (Earth Release: Mud River)!_ "

The ground under Choji instantly turned into an avalanche of mud and stone as the human ball started to slide over to Sakura, who was awaiting for the Akimihci boy with an eager glint in her eyes. " _Doton: Bakudan (Earth Release: Earth Bomb)!"_

The mud and stone beneath the chubby boy began to shift as the compounds within the mud itself began to shift. After a few seconds, a large explosion rocked the arena as the avalanche exploded underneath Choji, who landed in a heap next to Gekko. After confirming that the boy was unconscious, the jounin announced the winner. "And the winner of the match is Sakura Haruno!"

"Yes!" Sakura whooped. She gave a smile to her two teammates and her jounin sensei. Naruto was cheering for her and even the usually impassive Sasuke gave a hint of a grin to the pink haired ninja. The victor of the match ran up the walls and landed next to her team. "So, how did I do?"

"You did well, Sakura." Kakashi answered first. "I would say that the match was one of the cleanest matches I've ever seen, but I haven't seen Sasuke and Naruto fight yet."

Naruto grinned. "I'll definitely win mine without a scratch. I don't know about _teme_ here though."

" _Dobe_ , you're getting too cocky. For all you know, you might be facing me." Sasuke snorted. "Besides, I don't want to be the one paying for our team's food for the rest of the year."

Gekko raised his hand to announce the next match. "And the next match will be..."

 **Kiba Inuzuka vs Sasuke Uchiha**

"Easy." Sasuke said as he stepped into the arena. "Naruto, it looks like you're going to be paying for all our food!"

"Shut up _teme_." Naruto hollered back.

Kiba flashed his teeth at the last Uchiha. "You talk too much, _Uchiha_. Are you afraid that you'll lose to me? You can back out right now if you want to."

The raven haired boy only smirked, his eyes flashing red. "Bring it, dog boy."

"Let's go Akamaru!" Kiba shouted to his companion. " _Gatsuga (Fang Passing Fang)!_ "

The ninja and his dog turned into separate drills that sped towards Sasuke at incredible speed, but the Uchiha was unfazed. " _Katon: Kyuuka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Flame Sphere Technique)!_ "

Sasuke's body began to heat up instantly as his body began to rapidly rotate, parrying the two drills that came towards him. Both Kiba and Akamaru were flung to the side as the Rookie of the Year remained unharmed from the _Gatsuga_ attack.

"Heh. I'll admit that you're pretty good. Makes sense since you were the Rookie of the Year. But you haven't seen anything yet!" Kiba uttered loudly for Sasuke to hear. "Looks like I'll have to give you this pill early on."

The dog user tossed a small black pill to his dog, who swallowed the pill in an instant. The dog's body began to transform into a bigger and larger version of itself as Kiba gave a wicked grin to his opponent. "Even with your fancy eyes, you can't take on two of us!"

" _Jujin Bunshin (Beast Human Clone)!_ "

Akamaru turned into a clone of Kiba as both of them charged at Sasuke. "Take this! _Shikyaku no Jutsu (Four Legs Technique)!_ "

The attacks came rapidly as eight different limbs attack Sasuke from all angles. Sasuke gave out a small tsk as he used his Sharingan to dodge and block the attacks. _Luckily, I've been working on my speed and strength with Sakura and Naruto, so my body can block most people's taijutsu._

His thought was cut short as one of the rapid attacks caught him squarely in the shoulder, forcing him to drop his left arm. This created an opening that Kiba didn't hesitate to use, as he pounded the Uchiha and made him crash against the wall of the arena.

The duo backed up as they inspected their handiwork. "How's that for a change, Uchiha? Still cocky?"

" _Raiton: Raikou Kousen no Jutsu (Lightning Release:Lightning Beam Technique)!_ " Sasuke replied as he extended his hands and shot out a powerful lightning beam at Kiba. Fortunately for the Inuzuka, Akamaru leaped into the path of the blast and took the brunt of the damage.

Kiba caught the dog as it fell and cradled the unconscious form in his arms. "Thanks for the help, Akamaru. I'll end the bastard now."

"You shouldn't keep your eyes off the enemy." Sasuke said to the boy as he quickly maneuvered behind him. " _Katon: Gouryuuka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique)!"_

A large fireball in the shape of a dragon head crashed into Kiba and pushed the dog user into a wall. The wall collapsed as the fireball exploded, giving some burns to Kiba and making him collapse.

"I'm... Not done yet... Bastard." Kiba said faintly as he forced himself to stand up. " _Tsuga (Passing Fang)!_ "

Kiba turned into a drill once more and rushed towards Sasuke, though with much less power and speed than before. Sasuke only looked up at the drill and sighed. "You've depleted your chakra and your partner is unconscious. Your attacks won't be as effective as it was before."

" _Raiton: Shinkou Arashi no Jutsu (Rising Storm Technique)!_ "

Electricity surrounded Sasuke's body and shot out in several directions. Just as Kiba's attack was about to strike the Uchiha, the electricity bolts slammed into the poor Inuzuka. The attack was the final straw for the dog user as he collapsed on to the ground like his dog.

"The winner is Sasuke Uchiha!" Gekko announced.

Sasuke smirked and accepted Naruto's high five as he sat next to his team. "See? Easy."

"I don't know. You got hit by Kiba's moves a couple of times. Is that a bruise I see on your cheek? Oh wait, there's a cut too!" Naruto teased the raven haired boy.

The Uchiha scowled. "I would like to see you do better."

"The third match will consist of..."

 **Kagari vs Tenten**

"Look Sakura, it's that creepy Rain ninja we fought last time during the chunin exam." Naruto whispered.

Sakura nodded in reply. "It seems like they passed this time around... Weird."

" _Kaifu no Jutsu (Unsealing Technique)!"_ Tenten immediately shouted as she whipped out a variety of scrolls.

The Rain ninja only stared at the weapons that were suddenly flying towards him, only to easily dodge the attacks by sinking into the ground. " _Doton: Dochu Eigyo no Jutsu (Earth Release: Underground Fish Technique)._ "

TenTen began to bombard the floor with a variety of weapons in a rapid attempt to draw out the Rain ninja. "Are you just going to hide in the ground forever?"

"Of course not." A sly response came from directly under TenTen's feet. "That would be no fun. _Doton: Doryu Joheki (Earth Release: Earth Flow Rampart)._ "

The ground beneath the kunoichi shifted immediately into a deep hole. TenTen attempted to steady her footing, but the Rain ninja didn't give her any time to do so. He threw a kunai at her torso, which forced her to block it with her own weapon. Despite her best attempt to balance and block the attack, she fell into the hole and barely managed to grab onto the side before she struck the bottom.

"Good attempt, but not good enough. _Doton: Ganseki Kuzushi (Earth Release: Rock Collapse)!_ " Kagari said as he slammed his palm onto the ground. Rocks began to fall from parts of the hole and fell on top of the struggling TenTen, who finally lost her grip and fell into the hole.

"Winner of this match is Kagari!" Gekko announced to the others.

Naruto stared at the Rain ninja as he made his way back to his teammates. "Was he always this powerful?"

"I don't know. It's been a while so I don't remember much of our fight against him. But if he's strong, we need to watch out." Sakura said to her blond teammate. "I feel like he still has some tricks up his sleeves, but I might need time to remember them."

"The fourth match of the preliminary will begin..."

 **Naruto Uzumaki vs Hinata Hyuuga**

Both the blonde and the purple haired girl stared at the scoreboard in horror.

"What?"

* * *

 **AN:** And that's a wrap for this chapter! I feel like I did really bad on this chapter. If you have any suggestions or comments, please do leave it in the review section and I will read it carefully.

 **Yojibrama:** I have no idea what Axe Sakura is. I might need some help on the Sakura/Naruto development though, as my head is very unimaginative in some aspects.

 **Cao510:** And that is why you leave reviews, dear readers. I have already adjusted the fight scene between Gaara and Naruto in chapter 5 due to several reviews claiming that it was short (and upon further review, I agree). And yes, since Naruto has the Nine Tails and Gaara has the One Tails, it is entirely possible (and likely) that both ninjas will have different tailed beast cloaks.

 **The G'ddam Dark Knight:** That will be determined further on in the story.

 **Guest007:** Ah. I was going to have Sakura become a capable Earth user in this story, but I guess she still has the potential to learn Rasnegan. I will not throw the idea out the window. :)

 **Emzy2k11:** I try! But I have school and a social life! I wrote this as fast as I could through some sleepless nights.

 **94blake:** So, my FanFic is bad? Alright haha. Guess I can't please everyone.

 **Calebros:** Karin will not encounter Sasuke or Team 7 during the exams, but they might come in contact later on in the story.

 **maxslayer10:** Kakashi is pretty much aware of everything, as well as the Third Hokage. They know the basic gist and the important details of what is to come. This foreknowledge will help them prevent events from playing out in the future.

 **UseFistNotMouth:** I realized. Thank you :)

 **thedarkpokemaster:** Possibly. This Naruto is a bit more mature since he actually wants to save everyone this time around... But sometimes history repeats itself. Oh boy, a tag team sexy jutsu...

 **Aevrum:** I made him slightly more mature because I wanted him to be portrayed as the character that is seeking to actually save everyone, and in order to do so he needs to be stronger and more mature. At heart, he's still the same old Naruto. But he's changing quickly on the outside. If you have any suggestions about the development between Sakura and Naruto, feel free to PM me.

 **Hexlixical:** We're already seeing small changes and massive changes will happen after the chunin exams. It's only up to that point that the story will stay near canon. Afterwards, it'll be a wild ride :)


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